TO THE WRITERS’ ROOM: CANADIAN TV WRITERS ON CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION AND RESISTING TOKENISM

Samir Ballou
Industry and Education Programmer, Reel Asian

Samir is a film festival programmer, educator, and screenwriter based in Toronto. Currently, he is the Industry and Education programmer at Reel Asian, where he continues his efforts to strengthen the inclusion of Asian Canadian filmmakers in the media industry.

Léa Geronimo
Writer-Director

Léa Geronimo (they/she) is a Franco-Québécois, Filipino-Caucasian writer-director raised in a small town near Montreal.

Before working in television, Léa was a stage actor, then moved into writing & directing short films. They’ve been selected to many competitive programs with BIPOC TV&FILM, WIDC, Netflix, Reelworld, and more. Léa’s also earned a WGC Award nomination for their work on the Peabody Award-winning series, Sort Of (CBC, MAX). Léa is thrilled to take part in this year’s Reel Asian International Film Festival.

Kara Harun
Writer, producer, host

Kara Harun is a two-time Canadian Screen Award nominee for her work as a writer, producer, and host for TVOKids, The Space. Kara has written for children’s shows such as Dino Dana (Sinking Ship/TVO), It’s My Party (Bristow Global Media/TVO), Pollinators (TVO), and Denis and Me II and Ill (Crave, Family). In the tween space, she wrote for My Perfect Landing, a tween dramedy that airs on Family Channel, Netflix, and CBBC and BYU tv. Kara was a co-producer on Beyond Black Beauty, a drama series for IMDB TV/ Amazon. Kara worked as writer/producer/director of YTV’s The Zone Weekend and Big Fun Movies. Kara recently directed episodes Abroad I and II, a diverse sketch comedy show about the immigrant experience, which began airing on Omni in Spring of 2022. Kara’s feature directorial debut, a thriller titled Dying for Admission, will be released later in 2023. Kara is currently showrunning Aunty B’s House, a preschool sitcom for CBC Kids about the foster care system in Canada.

Angelica Mendizabal
Screenwriter, Director

Angelica Mendizabal is a TV writer based in Toronto, Canada. She draws on her experience growing up in a remote village in the Philippines and her subsequent immigration to Toronto to write stories about family, new identities and ambition.

Angelica is a Writer and Executive Story Editor on season three of Run the Burbs (CBC). In the past, she has written on Moonshine, Overlord & The Underwoods and Topline. She is also a Co-Producer on the recently announced Wattpad/CBC series “Near or Far”. Angelica is currently in development on a half hour comedy with marblemedia and a YA series with 9Story.