How to tell a story,  :30 or 1:00 with clarity and persuasion is the job of a commercial film producer.   Tuula started her film career in LA and is an award winning TV commercial producer. Credits include 100s of spots for top brands like IKEA, PepsiCo, BMW, Anheuser Busch, Air Canada earning awards from Clios, Advertising & Design Club Of Canada, Marketing and Digital Awards and Cannes Lions International Festival.

Musician and composer Paul Intson works in animation and live action drama, in both shorts and features, composing scores that have earned him a Gemini and a Genie award as well as multiple nominations.  Paul is a bassist in many musical collectives in Canada’s (nay, the world's) music capital, Hamilton Ontario.

Krista Koger freely admits that "Film Technician" doesn't well describe the range of special effects she creates in film, that require blacksmithing skills through to pyrotechnics certifications.  Krista will join FILMIST Stuudio and speak of her journey into the world of film production special effects (and how to get your pyrotechnics license!)

Born and raised in Toronto, Katrin's 35-year career in education included not just teaching, but also curricular program development, co-ordination/facilitation, assessments.  Katrin now gives back to the Esto community in the Hamilton Estonian School, and nourishing dancers at "Nou Pois Äläud".   Katrin looks forward to looking after participants at this inaugural FILMIST Stuudio!

Ever since Hedy first joined her school TV crew in 7th grade, she has been seeking the thrill of telling stories through video production. It led her to work for one of the biggest reality TV shows in Estonia, it brought her to the Broadcasting program at Torontos’ Centennial College and an internship at The Marilyn Denis Show on CTV. Hedy started her own production company, Ruudi Productions, and edits video content for KESKUS International Estonian Centre.

Reet is an interfaith/metaphysical minister, producer/director, artist, and researcher whose work includes award-winning documentaries, video training for mental health workers, animation and, in collaboration with her brother Tom, video-based apps for children’s mental health. Reet shares with Tom, Estonia’s Public Diplomacy award 2017 and Cultural Endowment of Estonia, 2015 Award in the field of Folk Culture, for Patterns of Freedom.

Tom's digital artist/filmmaker’s projects: adult/child mental health, interactive apps for youth in custody, clients include VISA, DHL, General Mills, Gillette, Hitachi, Ford. He produced/ directed award winning Raising the Flag (short doc, 2018), Patterns of Freedom (feature doc, 2015), award winning visual effects, animation and commercials include a Clio. "Roman Toi: Beautiful Songs I Dedicate to You”, editing award, Onyko, Ukraine/Tokyo festivals.

Nick has been a video editor for 9 years, starting with filming vlogs with his friends and then editing gaming content for established creators with millions of followers. He also specializes in motion designing and enjoys working on short films, documentaries and anything that allows him to be creative. Currently, he works at TSN as a freelancer and is one of the founding members of Ruudi Productions.

Heilika is a documentary filmmaker and internationally well-known curator and cultural manager. She studied film and television directing at Tallinn University with a semester at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She has directed several documentaries, incl. Flowers from the Mount of Olives (2013), which had great success in Estonian cinemas, and My Flesh and Blood (2018), winner of Estonian Film and Television Awards' Best Short Film of the Year.

Ülo is an internationally renowned filmmaker, producer and film scholar. He studied animation at the Turku Arts Academy in Finland and directed several award-winning animation films. He has written fiction for children and adults. In 2018 he got his PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts where he is now a professor and head of the animation department. In 2023/2024 Ülo is a visiting scholar at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Kaisa is an Estonian-Canadian documentary director/editor based in Toronto.  She's a poetic storyteller whose work has screened on CBC, History Channel, Discovery, VICE, CNBC, Smithsonian, and festivals including Hot Docs, Whistler Film Festival and Al Jazeera Int. Film Festival.  Wild Canadian Year (CBC's Nature of Things) is a 2018 Canadian Screen Award winner and BLK: An Origin Story a 2023 Canadian Screen Award winner.

Freelance writer Ingrid is the former film editor of Toronto’s NOW Magazine, the former deputy editor of Cineplex Magazine, and a founding member of the Toronto Film Critics Association. She has written hundreds of profiles of cinema luminaries, including Robert Redford, Jennifer Lawrence, J.J. Abrams, Robert Downey Jr., Greta Gerwig and Sylvester Stallone.  Ingrid will help FILMIST Stuudio participants' work speak from and to the heart.

A professional sound man since 1979, Urmas has worked in current affairs , documentary and dramatic formats. Nominated for a Gemini and Emmy, and he won the C.A.S award for best mixing for the mini series Joan of Arc, in 1999. Urmas is a graduate of the York University Film Program and has 43 years experience working in Canada and abroad, in snow and in sun!

An award-winning television producer whose career in media production spanned over 40 years, Tiina has been an editor, producer and executive producer. Trained at the National Film Board of Canada, Tiina’s specialty is documentary and educational series production for audiences of all ages. She has over 1000 credits (not a typo) on programs that have appeared on major networks worldwide, including BBC and Channel 4 in England and PBS in the U.S.

Liina is a filmmaker and educator based in Estonia, with a decade working in film in London UK.  There, she fell in love with the Estonian diaspora and with activity-based language learning.  But back to film - Liina is currently in production with two films and concurrently running extracurricular film programs for high school students in Tallinn.  Liina leads the FILMIST Stuudio program content.  She has done this many times before.

Ellen Valter is a lawyer with extensive experience in media and entertainment law, from in-house at Astral Media, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Telefilm Canada. And, true story, way back in the day, she was on-air host and segment producer of Season II of Omni Television's news-magazine "Telepeegel", and cobbled together a 30-min TV documentary about Laulupidu that went to air in 2005.  Like so many others, Ellen is married to the Estonian community.