Home » Juries
Junior Youth Jury
Iris Taylor
Fiona Sutherland
Stella Simon
Sacha Charity
Jane Colquhoun
Grace Patterson
Jasmine Morris
Dahrius Naimi
Senior Youth Jury
Elijah Hayter
Stella Anderson
Cassandra Goldman
Evelyn Hussey
Wei-Ling Morris
Max Korinth
Sebastien Hugron
Youth Jury Award for Best Picture (ages 9-12 & ages 13-18)
Youth Jury Award for Most Innovative Short Film (ages 9-12 & ages 13-18)
Youth Jury Award for Most Inspirational Short Film (ages 9-12 & ages 13-18)
National Film Board of Canada Award for Best Animated Short (ages 13-18)
** Find out more about how you can join the Youth Jury Program in 2019 **
Adult Jury
Norman Armour
Norman Armour is the Artistic & Executive director of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. He is the co-founder of the PuSh Festival, as well Rumble Productions, a mainstay theatre company in Vancouver. His career includes credits as director, actor and producer, covering a range of creative interests for the stage and screen. You can catch him on the odd rerun of X Files, as well as the Phillip Seymour Hoffman starrer, Capote. He recently directed the premiere of Pauline, an opera by Tobin Stokes and Margaret Atwood on the life and art of Métis poet Pauline Johnson.
Anne-Mary Mullen
Anne-Mary Mullen is the Senior Programmer & General Manager of the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival. She has worked at festivals all over North America including the San Francisco International Film Festival, VIFF, Frameline, Tribeca, Sundance, and the Durango Festival of New Mexican Cinema. She holds a Master's Degree in Literature, and was one of the directors of the Robson Reading Series at UBC Robson Square. As a programmer for VLAFF, she specializes in Latin-Canadian cinema and has participated in festivals in Argentina, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, and Spain.
Shana Myara
Shana Myara is a writer and cultural worker who has led the artistic programming of the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, The Roundhouse, and directed the movies acquisitions strategy for the Canadian broadcaster, OUTtv. Her short stories have been shortlisted for the Journey Prize and featured in Coming Attractions 13 (Oberon Press). Her work has also been shortlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize and won awards from Prism International, subTerrain, Geist, Glimmer Train, and appeared Matrix, Room, the Georgia Straight and more.
Adult Jury Best Picture Award
Edith Lando Peace Prize ($500)
Youth Filmmakers Showcase Jury
Kryshan Randel
Born and raised in BC, Kryshan Randel has been making and watching films for as long as he can remember. Several of his short films have toured the genre festival circuit worldwide including Sitges, Fantastic Fest and Fantasia; and screened on Amazon Instant Video and the Sundance Channel. He is also the creator and producer of the Vancouver's fast film events The 24 Hour Film Contest and The Great Canadian Commercial Contest; and co-founder of the film program for vulnerable youth, Frames Film Project. As a director for hire, and IATSE 669 member, Kryshan also does freelance shooting and/or editing work for clients such as BBC America, Netflix, Legendary Pictures and Disney, and develops his own projects in between.
Milena Salazar
Milena Salazar is a Costa Rican filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC. Her short documentaries Mars Barb (2015) and the award-winning Do I Have Boobs Now? (2017) have screened in festivals across the globe. She is regular contributor for the CBC Arts TV show Exhibitionists. A fellow of the 2016 Hot Docs documentary Channel Doc Accelerator program and the 2017 RIDM Talent Lab. Milena is currently developing new projects in Vancouver and her hometown of San José, Costa Rica.
Anaïsa Visser
Anaïsa Visser grew up all over the world, namely in Mozambique, the United States, then France, before moving to Vancouver to pursue an undergraduate degree at Emily Carr University. She graduated in 2013 with a BFA in Film, Video and Integrated Media. She dedicates all of her spare time to helping others make their independent films, and to writing, directing, and producing her own independent work. Her short script Send Us Smokes won the Hot Shot Shorts contest in 2016, and she was a finalist in NYC Midnight's 2017 International Screenwriting Challenge. Anaïsa received the 2017 Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award for Emerging Artist in Film and Media, and won the Crazy 8's 2018 film competition for her script Bordered.
Best Lighting & Camera
Best Music & Sound
Best Acting
Best Dcoumentary
Best Special Effects
Best Best Picture
Jury Recognition Award
The Audience Choice Award is decided by secret ballot at the screening on April 12 at the VIFF Vancity Theatre.