CMF puts the ‘East Coast in Focus’
Toronto, November 26, 2025 — The Canada Media Fund (CMF) today launched the fourth season of our Lights, Camera, Inclusion video series. Titled East Coast in Focus, the season focuses on the realities of a career in the Atlantic provinces, away from Canada’s largest screen industry hubs.
“Some of Canada’s most successful stories, past and present, hail from the region—think Anne with an E, Sullivan’s Crossing, Saint-Pierre, Wildhood, Son of a Critch, Mont-Rouge, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Diggstown, Hudson & Rex, and many others,” says CMF Vice-President of Industry Development Joy Loewen. “The East Coast is a hotbed of storytelling and creativity, and taking stock of its creative workforce, its audiovisual ecosystem, and the key role of its screen-industry festivals is key to addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities in the region.”
Over four episodes, host and creator Gaëlle Essoo, the CMF’s Senior Manager of Industry Development for the French Market, meets with filmmakers and producers crafting powerful stories in the Atlantic provinces—voices too often underrepresented on the national stage.
Season 4 guests are (in order of appearance):
- Chrissy King-Lopes, Industry Director of the Atlantic International Film Festival
- Laura Churchill, CEO and Film Commissioner of PictureNL
- Valerie Creighton, President and CEO of the CMF
- Erica Meus-Saunders, Executive Director of the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative
- Stephanie Joline, filmmaker
- Juanita Peters, Africville Museum Director and filmmaker
- Andre Anderson, filmmaker
- bretten hannam, filmmaker
- Jason Levangie, producer
- Walter Forsyth, Director of the Lunenburg Doc Fest
- Julian Carrington, Executive Director of the Documentary Organization of Canada
- Ariella Pahlke, filmmaker
- DOC Atlantic 2025 Breakthrough Program participants: Allan Saulis, Ewa Mebiri, Jamal Jefferson Weekes, Maria de Fatima Lima, Norman Ho, and Philly Gannon.
- Julien Cadieux, filmmaker
- Mélanie Clériot, Director of the Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie
- Shayne Michael, screenwriter and actor
- Hélène Lebon, filmmaker
- Haqq Brice Adéoyé, filmmaker
- Phil Comeau, filmmaker
Starting November 26, episodes of East Coast in Focus will be released every week for four weeks. Viewers can watch on the CMF’s website and YouTube channel.
About the Canada Media Fund
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) fosters, develops, finances, and promotes the production of Canadian content and applications for all audiovisual media platforms. The CMF guides Canadian content towards a competitive global environment by fostering industry innovation, rewarding success, enabling a diversity of voices, and promoting access to content through public and private sector partnerships. The CMF receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite, and IPTV distributors. Visit our website for more information.
Maxime Ruel
Senior Manager, Communications
[email protected]
