Women in Animation Vancouver (WIA Vancouver), a non-profit organization in the global animation industry, announced the short-listed candidates for the ACE Canada Program’s fourth iteration. The program is an immersive Animation Career EXCELelerator training program, for animation professionals who identify as women and non-binary, supported by Netflix Canada as the premiere sponsor.
ACE was created to support the advancement of mid-level animation professionals into key creative and senior roles; to create opportunities for new and diverse voices to tell their authentic stories. The program provides participants a key credit in the creation of their own animated short film, as well as mentorship and training to ensure their success.
A jury of industry professionals have shortlisted the top 5 candidates for each position in the program which includes: Writer, Director, Producer, Art Director, Storyboard Supervisor, Animation Director, Composer and Editor, as well as the new role this year, Production Manager. The 44 candidates will receive a series of workshops and training to further prepare them for their roles. Between June and August 2024, they will present to a final jury who will select the 9 participants that will make up the 4th ACE cohort. The final selected participants will be announced in September, and they will go on to create a short film with training and mentorship provided throughout the production process. The final film will be released in the Fall of 2025.
The ACE Canada Program has become the go-to program for studios looking to hire key creative talent. Past ACE candidates have gone on to work in potions and on projects including: series director on The Barbie Band! music videos and screenwriter for the animated series LEGO Friends. ACE has presented films at Bentonville Film Festival, CTN, Annecy, Spark and OIAF. Short film Pivot won Best Animation Winner at 55th WorldFest Houston 2022, was an Official Selection Fantoche (Baden, Switzerland) and Variety predicted Pivot as a shortlist candidate for the 2024 Academy Awards.
Ostinato, the film from the ACE 3 cohort, will be screening during the Short Film Forum at the Annecy International Animation Festival on Thursday, June 13th, 3:00 pm accompanied by a special conversation with the ACE 3 team moderated by Tisserand at MIFA Market Screening, Imperial Palace-Berlioz.
The ACE CANADA Cohort 4 Shortlisted Applicants
WRITER
Caitlin Langelier (Toronto, ON) Goun Lee (Toronto, ON) Haley Chung (Vancouver, New York, NY) Nattasha Shrestha (Toronto, ON) Patricia Atchison (Vancouver, BC)
DIRECTOR Airin Budiman (Toronto, ON Patricia Atchison (Vancouver, BC) Rebecca Champagne (Ottawa, ON) River Minho Kim (Vancouver, BC) Seema Virdi (Toronto, ON)
PRODUCER
Andrea Mayo (Vancouver, BC) Arlyn Bantog (Vancouver, BC) Carly Sacks (Toronto, ON) Cristina Tanase (Vancouver, BC) Mackenzie Wong (Toronto, ON)
ART DIRECTOR
Crystal Woo (Vancouver, BC) June Lo (Vancouver, BC) Maria Mercer (Kelowna, BC) Sara Barackzay (Vancouver, BC) Svetlana Gayvoronskaya (Toronto, ON)
