Meet the mentors
Ari Martinez
Directing Mentor
ARIANNA MARTINEZ (she / her) is a co-founding member of Strike Pictures, and with them has produced several short films that have screened internationally and have been licensed to CBC for broadcasting. Her filmmaking primarily focuses on identity, independence, and imagination, with her ultimate goal being to foster and promote a platform for women to share their stories through filmmaking.
She has produced several short films as well as directed the short Maya Eterna, which won CBC’s Short Film Face Off in 2021. Her debut feature film Do I Know You From Somewhere? premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and had its international premiere at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival.
Jillian Acreman
Directing Mentor
JILLIAN ACREMAN (she / her) has directed six short films under the umbrella of Columbus Avenue Pictures which she founded in 2009. Acreman wrote and directed The Man Who Sold the World starring Golden Globe nominee Steve Railsback, and in 2014 she produced Pop (dir. Ryan O’Toole) which was selected by Telefilm Canada for the “Not Short on Talent” showcase at the Cannes Film Festival. Her short films Broke, The Editor, The Art of Decay, and North have previously been licensed to CBC for broadcast. Acreman’s short Marigolds premiered at the 15th Annual Silver Wave Film Festival, where it was awarded both Best NB Short Film, and the Viewer’s Choice Award. It went on to have over 20 screenings and presentations, including at the National Arts Center in Ottawa.
Most recently Acreman directed her first feature film Queen of the Andes through the Telefilm Talent to Watch program, and with the support of the Province of New Brunswick. The film won Best Canadian First Feature at the 2021 Victoria Film Festival, and the Globe and Mail hailed it as an “engaging piece of cinema with ambition and ideas to spare”. Acreman serves as Studio Head for the Foundation Visual Arts program at the New Brunswick College of Craft & Design, where she has been an instructor since 2018.
Gordon Mihan
Producing Mentor
GORDON MIHAN (he/ him) is a producer with NewBrunswick based production company Strike Pictures. He produced their award-winning feature film Do I Know You From Somewhere which premiered at TIFF and had its International premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, Korea. He strives for his art to be innovative and heartfelt. He worked in the immigration sector in New Brunswick for eight years and appreciates the value of onscreen diversity. Mihan is also a director, playwright, screenwriter, and actor. His award-winning short films have played at festivals internationally.
Lance Kenneth Blakney
Lighting Mentor
A proud 2SLGBTQIA+ creative, Lance is a Fredericton-based cinematographer, editor, and producer passionate about authentic storytelling. He produced Do I Know You From Somewhere?, the first New Brunswick film in over a decade to premiere at TIFF, later premiering internationally at Busan. Serving as DP and co-editor on the project, Lance also represented the province at Cannes’ Marché du Film, championing Atlantic Canada’s creative potential and promoting New Brunswick’s emerging talent on the global stage.
Ashley Phinney
Camera Mentor
Having worked in every major role on a film crew, Ash has found herself happily settled in positions within the camera department, and directing. Her body of work include four feature films: Entropic (2018), Further than the eye can see (2021 - post production), Still Your Song (2023- post production), Do I know you from somewhere (2023), over 30 short films, video work for universities, government, television, artists, live sports/events, as well as various workshops/talks that she has led in Fredericton and beyond. Most recently, Ash directed season one of 'That Kind of Worked,' a reality competition show that will be released on Bell's FibeTV1 network in June 2025.
Tibor Pece
Sound Recordist
Tibor Pece is a graduate of Television Broadcasting. Has been working in NB since 2021 and was a recipient of the Sound Design Award from Silverwave in 2023. He is also a highly skilled audio engineer with expertise in location sound recording, boom operation, audio post-production, and sound design. With a keen ear for detail and a passion for delivering high-quality audio, Tibor has established himself as a trusted professional in the industry. His dedication to excellence and commitment to client satisfaction have earned him a reputation as a reliable and talented audio expert.
Jared Carney
Set Dec / Art Dept
Jared Carney is a filmmaker, production designer, and writer from Fredericton, New Brunswick who has been an explorer of the strange and unusual ever since the first visit from his sleep paralysis demon as a child.
From shooting on black & white film to pinhole photography, Jared adds a little weird to everything he does. His works includes a Stephen King adaptation which screened in Europe & at the World Horror Convention, the award-winning Dark and Stormy Night, which screened at film festivals worldwide, and Monday, which was met with huge success at the 15 Second Horror Film Challenge & received a personal nod from Troma Entertainment co-founder, Lloyd Kaufman. His production design and art direction credits include the Bell Fibe TV1 series', That Kind of Worked and Jimmy Saves the World, the short films Yesterday's Weather, Crustaceous, and Never Got Back My Shirt, and the feature film Further Than The Eye Can See.
The horror genre in particular has always piqued his interest & many of his influences stem from both classic & new-age horror cinema. Jared was a Features Writer for Horror-Movies.ca and is the founder and Festival Director of the Demonic Brilliance Film Festival. Jared has recently branched out into documentary filmmaking, seeking unique local stories and environmental issues.
Jon Blizzard
BTS Producer / Director
Jon Blizzard is the Creative Director of Steam Powered Studios Inc. and has over 20 years of experience in the Atlantic Canadian Filmmaking community. Jon has mentored many young members of the Filmmaking Community, helping them to produce their best work, as well as producing the comedic climate change series, Jimmy Saves the World! for Fibe TV1, as well as several award winning short films.
Ty Giffin
Editing / Postproduction Mentor
TY GIFFIN (he/ him) is a director, writer, camera op, editor and colorist who works in Fredericton, NB and at UNB. He has written, directed and edited three of his own short films and edited several others.
Christian Berube
Composer
Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Christian David Bérubé graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Alberta, where he studied piano, voice, and composition. He completed a Master of Music in instrumental composition under the supervision of Denis Gougeon at the Université de Montréal. He has composed the music for several stage musicals, and has performed professionally as a choral singer and rock pianist. His large-scale choral work Goats on the Left won a SOCAN Award for Young Composers; and his film scores have won two awards for Excellence in Music Composition at the Silver Wave Film Festival (2014 and 2017). His original soundtrack for the video game Noxia Somnia was released in 2022. He lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where he teaches piano, theory, and composition through the University of New Brunswick’s Centre for Musical Arts.
For more information on his compositions for film and video games, visit christianberube.com