Archive · Blood in the Snow Film Festival Presents
Deadly Exposure Industry Conference · Nov 21–23 · Online
🖥 Online Event
An exclusive program of industry panels, power round tables, and live pitches — the inaugural BITS Horror Development Lab, held online as part of the 2021 Deadly Exposure Industry Conference.
Financially assisted by Telefilm Canada, Ontario Creates, and the Independent Production Fund.
2021 Horror Development Lab
with Stephanie Herrera (Marquee Insurance)
with Greg Jeffs (William F. White)
with George Flores
with Kelly Michael Stewart (Blood in the Snow Film Festival)
2021 BITS Horror Development Lab
🩸 We are thrilled to announce the incredible filmmakers selected to participate in the 2021 Horror Development Lab.
Suri Parmar is a writer, filmmaker, producer, and professor who is an alumna of the Canadian Film Centre's Writers' Lab and whose media work has screened at film festivals around the world, including Canadian Film Fest and Kansas International Film Festival.
Originally from Venezuela, Javier started directing films in 2008. After a dozen short films, he debuted his crowdfunded war drama Roads of Ithriyah in 2021. An animator by trade, Javier has received awards for his work on and off screen.
Lovina is a Canadian actor, award-winning director, artist, fashion designer, and internationally published model in Toronto. She can be seen in DC's Shazam, Polar, and The Boys. Lance is a graduate of the Toronto Film School, and a commercial director, editor, and visual-effects artist.
Writer/director Reem Morsi is an alumna of Talent Labs at Berlinale, TIFF, Cannes, CFC, and others. Her award-winning films have screened at international festivals including TIFF. She's finishing her second feature and has directed TV series including CBC Gem's Virgins.
Award-winning Montreal playwright Christine Rodriguez is of mixed-race, Afro-Trinidadian heritage. She's currently part of the WarnerMedia Access x Canadian Academy Writers Program, while her feature screenplay Maya Rising earned Second Rounder status at the 2021 Austin Film Festival Script Competition.
Richard B. Pierre is an award-winning multiracial Black filmmaker whose films have been broadcast and screened at festivals worldwide. His newest fiction short, An Uninvited Guest, won Best Thriller at the 2020 HollyShorts Film Festival.
Bita is an Iranian-Canadian comedian and filmmaker. She recently co-wrote and co-directed an episode of The Slowest Show, a comedy series streaming on CBC GEM. Her films have screened across North America at LA Web Fest, where she was nominated for Best Comedic Actress, and at the National Screen Institute.
Adrian Bobb is a writer, director, and VFX artist with over 15 years of experience, an undying love for all things science and science fiction, and a personal interest in characters that defy and challenge all definitions and expectations.
Kelly Paoli is a Toronto-based, award-winning director whose focus is telling stories through diverse gazes. With an affinity for poignant visual comedy and queer-driven narratives, Kelly's work has been featured on CanalPlay, Amazon Prime, Bell FibeTv1, and Smokebomb Entertainment's KindaTv.
Rahul is an Indian-Canadian filmmaker and a graduate of the prestigious CFC Writers' Lab. His award-winning short film Forbidden Tikka Masala has more than 200K views online. Chai Tea, a web series he co-created, is in development with CBC Gem.
Roger Boyer is an Indigenous filmmaker based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He recently finished filming his dramatic short film The Fire. Roger is currently working on his feature film Coffee Express, along with his feature film script Our Blood Runs Deep.
Sid Zanforlin is a Chilean-Canadian from Montreal who has deep roots in three different languages and cultures. He has a background as an IATSE cameraman, theatre director, writer/director of many shorts, and countless episodes of docu-drama shows.
About the Program
This year, BITS launched the first Horror Development Lab, designed to facilitate business and production opportunities for genre (horror, sci-fi, action, thriller) scripted projects and short films by traditionally underrepresented BIPOC, women, and LGBTQ+ Canadian filmmakers and content creators.
Response to the Lab was fantastic, with creators from across Canada showing talent and enthusiasm for Canadian genre filmmaking. Our esteemed jury diligently selected the most diverse, compelling, and camera-ready projects to present to our Industry Leaders — primed to take their pitches to the big screen.
Financially assisted by Telefilm Canada, Ontario Creates, and the Independent Production Fund.