Conversations with filmmakers selected to the festival.
Directors Wendy Spinks and Clea Mallinson were immediately taken with Chuma Somdaka, the disabled, lesbian, isiXhosa woman at the centre of their mixed-media short film I Am Chuma and while they knew they wanted to tell Chuma’s story, the resulting films is not exactly the project that they started out with.
In this conversation with the filmmakers, discover their journey and the difficulties they experienced making a film with a subject who wasn’t always willing or able to actively participate in the telling of her own story.
SPEAKERS
Wendy Spinks
Creative Producer & Director // Zero Point 528
(I Am Chuma, Mumue)
Wendy Spinks is a creator, writer and director. As the founder of Zeropoint Studios since 2010, Wendy acts in her role as a development executive /creative producer and content strategist, for the TV, digital and animation film industry in the entertainment sector.
A true polymath, with a background in human behaviour, advertising, fine arts and fashion, Wendy creates and develops content for global IP and sustainable brands aimed at multi-platforms including linear and nonlinear broadcast, VR, digital, online and social media. Wendy is responsible for creating, writing or finding and developing ideas, concepts and stories that will make successful TV Series, short films or transmedia campaigns to include games, VR and web.
Part of her primary role is to find new talent and cultivate creative relationships with many people in the global industry and attend international animation industry-related Markets and Festivals. Wendy is currently developing two VR projects as well as a feature-length animated hybrid documentary to co-write and co-direct as part of Zeropoint 528's impact projects. Wendy is the author and co-scriptwriter and co-director on Zeropoint528's global transmedia campaign project; Mumue, having been a winner at DISCOP 17 and Finalist in Annecy/ MifaPitches 2018.
Website // Twitter // Instagram // LinkedIn
Clea Mallinson
Story Editor // Sunrise Productions
(I Am Chuma, Jungle Beat: The Movie, Boxed Warriors, Normal is Over: The Movie 1.1)
Clea Mallinson is a writer, director and editor who loves to explore themes of self-expression, connection and environmental consciousness.
She has over ten years editing experience and has worked in reality TV, documentary, fiction and animation. She graduated from UCT with an Honours in Film and Media studies and has an MA in Screenwriting from the University of Ireland, Galway.
MODERATOR
Marina Antunes
Festival Director, Film Critic, Podcaster // Spark CG Society
Marina joined the Spark Computer Graphics Society as Festival Director in 2014. Throughout her tenure, the festival has grown into Western Canada’s premiere animation festival, featuring a number of specialty programming including the “Made in Canada” program celebrating Canadian creators, “Mother of a Medium” featuring works from female filmmakers, and “Spotlight on France” which celebrates the best of French animation. In 2019, the SPARK ANIMATION FESTIVAL became Academy Award ® accredited, the only festival in British Columbia to hold that distinction.
Marina is also a writer and podcaster with over 15 years of experience, first on a personal blog followed by a decade-long tenure on the now-retired Row Three. In 2008 she joined the writing staff at Quiet Earth, becoming Editor-In-Chief in 2014, a role she still holds. Over the years, she has also produced and hosted a number of podcasts including Before the Dawn, a long-running podcast on the Twilight franchise, Girls on Pop, a podcast on film and popular entertainment from women’s perspective and After the Credits, bi-monthly film podcast with nearly 300 episodes.
Marina is a member of the Online Film Critics Society, Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and the Visual Effects Society is the President of the Vancouver SIGGRAPH chapter, and has served on juries for several film festivals including the DOXA, St. Louis International Film Festival, and the Whistler Film Festival.
Conversations with filmmakers selected to the festival.
Directors Wendy Spinks and Clea Mallinson were immediately taken with Chuma Somdaka, the disabled, lesbian, isiXhosa woman at the centre of their mixed-media short film I Am Chuma and while they knew they wanted to tell Chuma’s story, the resulting films is not exactly the project that they started out with.
In this conversation with the filmmakers, discover their journey and the difficulties they experienced making a film with a subject who wasn’t always willing or able to actively participate in the telling of her own story.
SPEAKERS
Wendy Spinks
Creative Producer & Director // Zero Point 528
(I Am Chuma, Mumue)
Wendy Spinks is a creator, writer and director. As the founder of Zeropoint Studios since 2010, Wendy acts in her role as a development executive /creative producer and content strategist, for the TV, digital and animation film industry in the entertainment sector.
A true polymath, with a background in human behaviour, advertising, fine arts and fashion, Wendy creates and develops content for global IP and sustainable brands aimed at multi-platforms including linear and nonlinear broadcast, VR, digital, online and social media. Wendy is responsible for creating, writing or finding and developing ideas, concepts and stories that will make successful TV Series, short films or transmedia campaigns to include games, VR and web.
Part of her primary role is to find new talent and cultivate creative relationships with many people in the global industry and attend international animation industry-related Markets and Festivals. Wendy is currently developing two VR projects as well as a feature-length animated hybrid documentary to co-write and co-direct as part of Zeropoint 528's impact projects. Wendy is the author and co-scriptwriter and co-director on Zeropoint528's global transmedia campaign project; Mumue, having been a winner at DISCOP 17 and Finalist in Annecy/ MifaPitches 2018.
Website // Twitter // Instagram // LinkedIn
Clea Mallinson
Story Editor // Sunrise Productions
(I Am Chuma, Jungle Beat: The Movie, Boxed Warriors, Normal is Over: The Movie 1.1)
Clea Mallinson is a writer, director and editor who loves to explore themes of self-expression, connection and environmental consciousness.
She has over ten years editing experience and has worked in reality TV, documentary, fiction and animation. She graduated from UCT with an Honours in Film and Media studies and has an MA in Screenwriting from the University of Ireland, Galway.
MODERATOR
Marina Antunes
Festival Director, Film Critic, Podcaster // Spark CG Society
Marina joined the Spark Computer Graphics Society as Festival Director in 2014. Throughout her tenure, the festival has grown into Western Canada’s premiere animation festival, featuring a number of specialty programming including the “Made in Canada” program celebrating Canadian creators, “Mother of a Medium” featuring works from female filmmakers, and “Spotlight on France” which celebrates the best of French animation. In 2019, the SPARK ANIMATION FESTIVAL became Academy Award ® accredited, the only festival in British Columbia to hold that distinction.
Marina is also a writer and podcaster with over 15 years of experience, first on a personal blog followed by a decade-long tenure on the now-retired Row Three. In 2008 she joined the writing staff at Quiet Earth, becoming Editor-In-Chief in 2014, a role she still holds. Over the years, she has also produced and hosted a number of podcasts including Before the Dawn, a long-running podcast on the Twilight franchise, Girls on Pop, a podcast on film and popular entertainment from women’s perspective and After the Credits, bi-monthly film podcast with nearly 300 episodes.
Marina is a member of the Online Film Critics Society, Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and the Visual Effects Society is the President of the Vancouver SIGGRAPH chapter, and has served on juries for several film festivals including the DOXA, St. Louis International Film Festival, and the Whistler Film Festival.
