We at the festival are sad to bid farewell to two of our cherished programming team members: Our Senior Film Programmer, David Knipe, who has moved on to a programming position with the Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto, and Stephanie Berrington, who is focusing on her role as the Director of Industry Programming at the Canadian Film Institute in Ottawa. We are so proud of these two film industry professionals as they advance their careers, and are grateful for their time with us.
In 2015, David started off as a volunteer, then was hired to help in the office in 2016, moving onto the programming team in 2017, taking over the Senior Programmer position in 2018. When selecting films for the festival, David’s thoughtful insight into what makes a good film and sharp curatorial sense helped to build the festival into what it is today: an international film festival that presents thought-provoking and dynamic films to our audiences. A true team player whose love and dedication for the festival was obvious in his contributions, even outside of his job description. During the festival, you could always find him helping with the beach set up, or venue teardowns. His energy and natural leadership will be missed, but not entirely, as he will be serving on the Programming Committee for 2023, lending his thoughts and opinions to our programmers.
Stephanie Berrington started off as the Shorts Film Programmer in 2019, and her contributions that year helped the festival achieve it’s most successful and highly attended edition to date. Her professionalism and natural relatability attributed to her great ability to moderate panels and represent the festival in a myriad of ways. Since then, Stephanie has also curated the “New Visions” film series, highlighting experimental and cutting-edge Canadian works, and last year as the Canadian Fiction Features Programmer. While Stephanie scales back her programming responsibilities with the festival, like David, she will also be contributing as a member of the Programming Committee for 2023.
We wish them both all the best in their new endeavours and thank them for their years of service to our festival and community of movie-lovers!
As with every ending, there must also be a new beginning, so the festival is now accepting applications for a new Fiction Features Programmer until December 11th. See the call for applications here.
Join our team of fantastic festival organizers and programmers to put on one of Manitoba’s most unique summer experiences!
