Donna Davies
Donna Davies is a writer, producer, director and owner of Ruby Tree Films in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her foray into filmmaking began with a number of short dramas including Town Shoe Repair, Seven Crows, A Space for Sara, and Gasoline Puddles. Donna has since gone on to write, direct and produce dozens of award winning films which have received accolades at film festivals worldwide.
Donna’s feature documentary Nightmare Factory, which tells the story of how the world’s top make-up FX artists changed the face of Hollywood, has won dozens of international awards including Best Documentary Feature at the Atlanta Horror Film Festival, Award of Excellence at Indie Fest and The Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the 2012 Mile High Horror Film Festival. Her most recent feature doc Fanarchy, a fun look at convergence culture and the evolution of fandom, is currently airing on The Movie Network, HBO Canada, and EPIX and Hulu in the US.
Robert Zimmerman – Director of Photography
After graduating from New York University Film Institute, Robert began an extensive career that has spanned from theatrical productions, to TV commercials and documentaries. He has worked in the UK, Europe, Saudi Arabia, China, Mexico and across North America.
Robert has been based in Halifax, Nova Scotia since 1987. His credits include City of the Dead, JacknJill, Fanarchy, Pretty Bloody, Zombiemania, Nightmare Factory, and the Shadow Hunter series.
Thor Henrikson – Editor
Thor Henrikson is a Halifax based writer, director who has worked as an editor for 25 years. His work with filmmaker Donna Davies began with Zombiemania (2008).
Thor’s work includes a number of short films including Half Nelson, which was awarded the AMPIA best editing in 1991, and Genie nominated Elimination Dance (1998). In addition to working on projects such as the National Geographic International series The Sea Hunters, Thor has also edited his own films, WebHead, Table Hockey the Movie, Rockhead and Me, and Viking Way.
Frank Forrestall – Motion Graphics
Frank Forrestall studied at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and graduated from MacKenzie College with honors in Animation. He has since worked extensively in the Film and TV, advertising and publishing industries as a designer, director, illustrator, animator and visual effects artist.
Frank has produced numerous short animated films and music videos. In 1999 he developed Tales of Irth an animated web series in conjunction with DreamWorks SKG. In 2002 he produced and directed a one-hour animated documentary entitled Fairy Folio: A Field Guide to the Faerie for CTV. And in 2012 Frank produced and directed the dramatic short JackenJill which screened at numerous international film festivals. Frank has worked on numerous Ruby Tree Film productions including the feature documentaries Nightmare Factory and Fanarchy.
Punam Sawhney
Punam Sawhney is a Canadian writer/director based in Toronto. She began her journey into filmmaking by writing and directing the short film Flower Bear, which was part of Toronto’s ‘On the Fly’ Festival.
In 2000, she wrote and directed The Goddess Method, a short film that screened at over 100 film festivals internationally and won various awards. She has written and directed various short films including The Purification Ritual (2003) and The Art of Forgetting the Right Things (2006).
Together with her co-writer Javed Ali, Punam has written five scripted TV series concepts and three non-fiction TV series concepts. The pair has also collaborated on feature film scripts for Preoccupation with Chaos, Boys of Liverburp, and Raj’s Misguided Engagement.
Javed Ali – Composer
Javed Ali is a Canadian writer/composer based in Toronto.
Javed began his composing career with the short films Flower Bear and The Goddess Method (awarded ‘best original music’ at the Newport Film Festival in 2001.)
Javed has composed for TV commercials, feature films, documentary and video games. His credits include the feature films Annual Getaway (2009), Montrose Avenue (2010) and This Dive (2011).
He is the primary composer for UKEN games, a Toronto based video publisher, and has worked on Monsters (2013) and War Mechanics (2014).
His documentary work includes The Guinness King (2012) and My Country (2013).
Ann Bernier – Producer
After 12 years at Telefilm Canada’s Atlantic office where she oversaw the television and feature film development projects and the new media fund, Ann became an independent producer in 1999.
She has since served as Director of Operations and Development at imX Communications Inc. which produced the award winning co-productions Margaret’s Museum, Love and Death on Long Island, and New Waterford Girl, and the feature documentary Damage Done: The Drug War Odyssey.
Ann was the Executive Producer on Rohan Fernando’s feature film Snow, co-producer on Donna Davies’ feature documentary film Fanarchy and co-producer on John Walker feature documentary Quebec My Country Mon Pays.
She and her partner Chris Zimmer are also developing a number of feature film projects including an international coproduction The Ordinary Seaman and local feature Monica’s News.
