Tobi Asmoucha, tasmoucha@centennialcollege.ca

Professor – Photography

Tobi Asmoucha is a commercial and editorial photographer based in Toronto. Her documentary projects explore themes of community and the rituals that bind them.  Tobi is interested in communities in transition and how connections and rituals continue through adaptation.  She teaches at Centennial College, Gallery 44 and as an artist in the schools with TDSB.  She is a member of PhotoSensitive, with work in collections at MOCCA, Jewish Museum Berlin and the Canadian War Museum.

 

John Bessai, JBessai@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Advanced Digital Media

With over 20 years of experience creating screen-based, non-fiction content for global audiences while building innovative digital products and securing millions of dollars of investment in his own independent productions, John Bessai is an industry iconoclast who has been on the cutting edge of digital transformation and innovation initiatives since the mid-1990s.

John co-founded CineFocus Canada, the world-renowned and award-winning interactive storytelling production company which was created in 1991. In his capacity as a producer, director, writer, researcher, course director and storyteller, he is an active participant in the digital transformation of the creative industries and helping forge a new understanding of how talent, innovation entrepreneurship and storytelling can accelerate positive social change through the creative production of mass media. Most recently, he launched Green Heroes, one of Canada’s first interactive transmedia productions with TVO and Quebecor.

He has directed, produced or developed hundreds of digital media, documentary and interactive projects, mentored more than 500 students, received a nomination for a Juno Award in Canada and has had a permanent installation at the Royal Ontario Museum since 2006.

He is currently completing his PhD in Canadian Studies at Carleton and Trent Universities.

 

David Bradshaw, DBradshaw@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, TV Studio & Live TV Production

David Bradshaw is a 32-year veteran television producer/director at Rogers Communications Ltd. His experience includes producing 1,800 live episodes of Goldhawk Live with veteran consumer advocate Dale Goldhawk, live coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival, G8/G20 Summit as well as live sports including OHL hockey, basketball, volleyball, tennis, football and baseball.

In a former life, Dave was a radio producer and host at several stations in Chicago. He has also worked as a teacher at The Toronto Film School and was the principal trainer of volunteers at Rogers Toronto. David is currently a freelance producer at AM740-Zoomer radio.

 

Malcolm Byard, mbyard@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Filmmaking, Radio Production

Malcolm Byard began his film and television career in 1984 as the director and producer of his high school’s cable access show Perspectives, which remained on the air more than 20 years later. Following his graduation from Ryerson University, he began working at CBC television in Toronto as a set decorator, props master and stagehand on all types of programs, including Mr. Dressup, Kids in the Hall, Royal Canadian Air Farce and CFL football.

In 1998, Malcolm left the CBC after completing Ken Finkleman’s final episodes of The Newsroom and the highly controversial More Tears. That same year, Malcolm joined the Sets/Props/Greens Department of Toronto Local 873 of I.A.T.S.E. Over the past decade Malcolm has contributed to more than 20 feature films, 150 episodes of television and various movies of the week as a set decorator, leadman, greens coordinator, set decorations buyer and props master.

Notably, Malcolm completed his second feature film as a production designer. One Week, which shot in hundreds of locations across Canada, premiered as a Gala Presentation at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and won Best Canadian Feature Film at both the Calgary and Edmonton International Film Festivals. Over the Summer of 2010 Malcolm worked in the set decoration department on Take This Waltz, which was written, directed and produced by Sarah Polly, and starred Michelle Williams, Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogan.

Currently Malcolm is working on the weekly radio programme The Shed Show and a short film The Vision of Ephram Hubbleduck (working title).

 

 

Ognen Georgievski, ogeorgievski@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Digital Media

Ognen Georgievski has been creating works produced in Canada and Europe.

His experience ranges from working as a feature screenwriter (Second Chance, Neil), TV series writer (The Markovskis, In Treatment, Nowhere to Hide, Our Neighborhood), playwright (Spring Awakening 2000, Trip), dramaturge on Dora-Award winning shows (The Last Days of Judas Iscariot) and animation writer (The White Road). He also works as a story editor on feature and documentary films, as well as story analyst (EURIMAGES – European Cinema Support Fund).

Ognen has also explored other media (branded entertainment, web, interactive, social, and radio) as a copywriter and content creator, working both freelance and for agencies like the McCann Worldgroup.

Ognen investigates the connections between the many different types of time-based media storytelling and how they work across many platforms, the exciting results of which he shares and demonstrates in the Digital Media Production 2 course that he teaches at Centennial.

 

 

Tara Jan, tjan@my.centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Media Business & Entrepreneurship

Tara Jan been working in the television business for over 30 years. As a Freelance Producer, she manages productions from start to finish, large and small; sending crews all over the world and has produced hundreds of hours of television with her teams. As a Supervising Producer, she hires the creative team, manages the budget and schedule and makes sure the production is delivered on time and on budget. She works on live teleconferences, one-off documentaries, live shows, series television, feature docs, reality series, dramatic recreations and integrated digital solutions for broadcast clients. From Mike Holmes renovation shows for HGTV, to an Emmy award-winning documentary on the sex slavery trade in Moldova on Front Line, to a museum app for the ROM, she has managed a variety of mediums, teams, projects and collaborators. Recently at Muse Entertainment in Toronto as Executive in Charge of Non-Scripted Production, she oversaw all television series production, web content, development and distribution, start to finish. In 2018, she worked on the 8-part dramatic series on CBC entitled “Coroner”, as well as the Netflix original film, “Good Sam”.

This year, she was the Executive in Charge of Production for Associated Producers here in Toronto, overseeing a 6-part documentary series on the transatlantic slave trade. For this series, she has managed the filming of slave shipwreck dives for the series on 5 continents and sent crews to over 12 countries in the last 8 months.

She has been teaching at Centennial for over 6 years and teaches part-time in the post-graduate business affairs program as well.

 

Iljo Kotorencev, ikotorencev@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Media Production, Cinematography & Lighting

Iljo Kotorencev is a freelance cinematographer with more than 20 years of experience in the field. After completing a Master’s degree in cinematography from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria-Europe he has worked on more than 30 European, Canadian and US feature, short and documentary films, as well as music, video and commercial productions in a variety of positions as a Cinematographer, camera crew and electric department.  He worked as a Director of Photography on the feature film Carcasses, directed by Denis Côté, selected in Director Fortnights at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 and Toronto International Film Festival Canada’s Top Ten Feature Films for 2009.

Iljo is currently working in the busy Toronto film industry.

 

Jim Lambie, elambie@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Filmmaking, Production Design

Jim Lambie is an award-winning set decorator with more than 20 years of experience in television, commercials and feature film. A graduate of Ryerson University’s Media Arts program, Jim started his career as an editor and cinematographer. His projects ranged from independent Canadian films to music videos for bands such as Blue Rodeo and 54-40.

Early in his career, Jim transitioned to the design side of production and began working as an art director and set decorator. He has worked alongside renowned directors such as Atom Egoyan, Deepa Mehta, Paul Mazurlsky, Denis Villeneuve, Denys Arcand, and most recently Oliver Assayas. Some of his notable projects include Enemy, Chloe, Murdoch Mysteries and The Listener.

Jim is also a fine art photographer who has had a variety of exhibitions, including an early show curated by an up and coming Stephen Bulger. His work has appeared in numerous film and television productions as well as being in the collections of many prominent actors.

 

Dorlene Lin, DLin@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Broadcasting Then & Now, Documentary & Factual

Dorlene Lin is an award-winning producer with over 25 years of experience in drama, news, documentary and factual production.

Over her career, she has worked as an assistant director, researcher, writer, chase producer, production manager, line producer, and producer. Since 2010 she has taught in the Broadcasting program at Centennial College. In 2018, she also began teaching in the RTA Media Production program at Ryerson University.

 

Jeannette Loakman, jloakman@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Documentary & Factual

Jeannette Loakman is an award-winning producer with more than a decade in the business. She’s produced lifestyle series and one-off documentaries and is currently producing Beauty and Ruin with Marc de Guerre for SuperChannel, and From Four Corners of the Earth for Vision TV. She was the muscle behind Chubby Chaser, Peep Me, Cat Ladies, the series Groomed and Spam: the Documentary.

Jeannette splits her time between producing and co-ordinating a post-graduate program at Centennial College that is all about the business of film and TV.

 

Steve Lucas, slucas@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Screenwriting

Steve Lucas has been writing, producing, show-running and story-editing popular films and TV shows for more than 30 years. His award-winning drama writing credits include CBC’s The Border, Global’s Blue Murder, which he co-created and show ran, the CBC’s Major Crime and the independent feature film Diplomatic Immunity, both of which he wrote and co-produced. His documentary film writing and story editing credits include the Genie Award-winning The Champagne Safari, the Gemini Award-winning Last Call at The Gladstone Hotel, and the Academy Award-nominated After the Axe, which he also co-produced. More recently, Steve wrote JFK: The Smoking Gun, a well-received documentary feature for Montreal’s Muse Entertainment.

A University of Toronto graduate, Steve serves on the Features First Selection committee at the Canadian Film Centre and teaches Documentary Film Writing at the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto three times a year. He is currently at work on a number of new film and TV projects.

 

Rohan Macleish, rmcleish@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, TV Studio, Live TV Production

Rohan Alexander McLeish the is founder of Raemac Methods and Storytellers Republic that operates the MyJamaicaIs and Resortfence  storytelling websites and conferences.

Rohan is a Media Professional with a career spanning 33 years, and which has taken him through many changes and genres. His resume reads, Executive Producer, Professor, Cameraman, Audio tech, Light technician, Director, Technical Director, E.N.G Editor, Producer, Director of photography(DoP), Media Trainer, Innovator and  Educator. His career started at the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation as Cameraman, where he quickly adapted and moved from camera to editing, and then to directing, and in 1993 moved to the newly formed CVM Television station.

As the Assistant  Production Manager at CVM Television, he trained over 40 new employees, and then guided CVM TV through its first live newscast, first current affairs show, first world cup coverage, first outside broadcast, many more. After a short stint in Holland where he boosted his skills as a trainer and developed a deeper understanding of Cinematography, Soon after he migrated to Canada where he showcased his craft as the director of photography for several short features at Shaw Cable. His love and knowledge of News, Sports and international events gave him the opportunity to work for CTV local, national and TSN.

In 2012 he joined Centennial College as a member of the Journalism and Broadcast and Film Faculties and used this opportunity to introduce mobile journalism and mobile content making. Mobile Videography and film making became such a passion that he created a smartphone case that is expected to be released in mid-2021.

Rohan also co-founded YouProduce Creations with two former CVM TV colleagues Dr.Elaine Williams-Morgan and Barrington Smith and In 2017 he teamed up with Craig Gibson to produce the game show KWACKED. Rohan’s never-ending quest to mentor young minds took one more step in 2018 & 19 when he coordinated Centennial College Story Arts Centre Media Camps for 8-12-year-old.

Rohan’s other Brands are Smartphone Methodology for smartphone training and Wereacct for works with disabilities for assistive media training and productions.

 

Jeff Miller, jmille87@my.centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Acting for Writers & Directors

Jeff has been a professional actor for over 30 years and has worked in theatres across Canada and the U.S. He has been an instructor with the Theatre Arts and Performance program at Centennial College since 2017, teaching Script Reading and Analysis: Canadian Playwrights and Shakespeare and the Classics, Creativity in Context and Audition Technique courses. He has taught modern scene study, text analysis, audition technique and improvisation at North Bay’s Canadore College and comedic scene study at Toronto’s Rosedale School for the Arts. He is an artist-educator with Studio 180 Theatre in Toronto and, as an actor for Studio 180, has appeared in My Night With Reg, Cock, The Normal Heart, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook and The Laramie Project. Other Canadian theatres he has worked with include Young People’s Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Thousand Islands Playhouse and the Sudbury Theatre Centre. U.S. theatre credits include shows with Boston’s Speakeasy and Triangle Theaters and the Florida Shakespeare Theater in Miami. TV credits include roles on Good Witch, The Strain, Man Seeking Woman, Taken and Queer as Folk.

 

Karen Shopsowitz, kshopsowitz@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Editing, Career Management & Portfolio, Doc and Factual 1, Field Placement

Karen Shopsowitz is a Peabody-award winning producer, director, editor and cameraperson, whose work has been screened nationally and internationally. Her most recent credit is director of Magic Shadows: Elwy Yost A Life in Movies, produced by Firestarter Productions in association with TVO, for which she was nominated for two Canadian Screen Awards, for writer and director. She recently edited three episodes of the 6-part series Yearbook, airing on TVO. She is also the director, producer, and editor of, The Other Side of the Hero, a documentary that looks at first responders dealing with PTSD and other mental health issues (independently co-produced with Enrico Colantoni and Diana Warmé). The film aired on CBC’s documentary channel and has been screened at festivals and events across North America. Other recent independent credits include GrandParenting, produced in association with TVO and One Summer at Camp Winston, a one hour documentary about a camp for children with complex neurological disorders, produced in association with the CBC’s documentary channel.

Karen is also the director/editor (and Super8 cameraperson) and co-writer of My Father’s Camera, (produced by the National Film Board of Canada, and winner of the prestigious Peabody Award); series producer and director/co-editor of Canada’s War in Colour (produced by YAP Films, and broadcast on the CBC and SRC; producer, director, writer, editor of A Place to Save Your Life (about the Jewish refugee community of Shanghai); and producer, director, writer, editor of the award-winning My Grandparents Had a Hotel.

Karen has worked as a director and/or editor on dozens of other productions, ranging from stand-alone documentaries to documentary series for television, fiction, educational works and music videos. She also does annual film workshops for teens, at Holland-Bloorview/Sick Kids, and at Camp Winston.

Karen has a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University, Ottawa; a Masters of Fine Arts in Film and Video from York University, Toronto; and a Certificate in Feature Film Writing from UCLA’s on-line writer’s studio. She was also a participant in the Women in the Director’s Chair program.

Helen Sianos, hsianos@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Working in Media, Editing, Advanced Editing, Compositing and Color Correction

Professional Dreamer. Tech Savvy Educator. Creative Storyteller. Helen Sianos brings more than 17 years of national live, field, remote and studio broadcast television experience as a senior producer, writer, video editor and director with most of Canada’s top networks such as Shaw Media, CTV, Astral/Bell Media and Global. Her passion for children and youth programming in the broadcast arena lead to a fulfilling career working for CBC, YTV, and TELETOON.

Currently, she is a movie trailer editor for Harlequin film collection adaptations airing on Netflix, NBCUniversal, UPTV, Super Channel (Canada), Channel 5 (United Kingdom), M6 (France), RTBF (Belgium)

At the CBC she was an interstitial writer, producer, director, and chase producer for the after-school block of programming. Helen booked a wide range of celebrities from the world of sports, music, film and television and worked with children who were then prepared for their on-camera interviews with the celebrities.

After YTV, the marketing department at TELETOON hired Helen. She was a promo producer, writer, non-linear digital editor, and director of live-action promos and multi-platform interstitial content for TELETOON and TELETOON Retro. She worked on campaigns for both the English and French specialty animation channels.

In 2010, she was one of only twenty broadcast media professionals across Canada who was awarded a scholarship to the CWC / Corus Digital Media & Technology Executive Development Program.

As faculty at Centennial College, she was a 2014 recipient of two President’s Spirit Awards at Centennial College. After becoming Coordinator for Children’s Media in 2016, the program, along with its faculty, received two awards. The first was the President’s Academic Gold Award for Overall Quality of Learning Experience for outstanding student satisfaction ratings for five consecutive years. The second was the President’s Academic Program Recognition Award for Quality of Learning Experience for outstanding student satisfaction rating in 2016.

Helen’s passion for media and teaching the next generation of content creators inspired her to continue her own life-long learning and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).

 

Jonny Silver, jsilver@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, The Language of Film, Screenwriting

Artist, filmmaker, Jonny Silver was born in Toronto. He studied art, philosophy and literature at St Edwards University in Austin, Texas (on an athletic scholarship) then returned to Toronto to attend the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University) where he studied under some of Canada’s most renowned visual artists. As a student, he won awards for his work in sculpture, installation art and experimental film. His art education included an assistantship with cubist painter, Arthur Langlet (pupil of cubism founder Georges Braque) at Atelier International de Séguret in southern France. Silver had solo shows at A Space, Toronto, Ed Video, Guelph, and at the Canadian Embassy, Belgrade, Serbia. His film work was featured in group shows at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, Canada House, London, and the Goethe Institute, Berlin. He followed a filmmaking career starting at the National Film Board of Canada and continuing as a freelance director in both the English and French sectors of the Canadian Film/TV industry. He specialized in opposing genres: Crime-TV and Performing Arts. His work took him across Canada, throughout Europe, to Central America and the Middle East. While working in prime time, Silver continued producing his own art-house projects including features, Lonely Child and Pio And The Cracks, psychodrama, Rue d’Enfer, dance film, Ecstasy Forbidden, and installation film, Return Of The Cubes, all of which gained wide exposure internationally. Silver’s artistic output has included a body of work in digital photography. His photo compositions, resembling puzzle-images, have been featured in art books, web-based projects and group exhibitions including the Dada Reboot show at Toronto’s 2012 Nuit Blanche and the 2015 Liquid Rooms show at the Palazzo Ca’Zinardi in Venice. Silver has held part-time teaching positions at Toronto’s Centennial College since 2011 and he spent 2013 teaching Photography and Visual Aesthetics at the Ciné Institute in Jacmel, Haiti, from where he authored a book of field notes and photographs entitled, A Season in Haiti. Silver holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Ontario College of Art & Design University and is a member of the Director’s Guild of Canada.

 

Wanda Taylor, wtaylor@centennialcollege.ca

Professor, Media Writing

Wanda Taylor is an author, educator, social worker, and freelance journalist. She has written and published six books of fiction and non-fiction. She is a former CBC Television Producer and has written content for film, documentary, and television. Wanda has bylines in numerous publications, including Atlantic Books Today, Peak Magazine, and Understorey Magazine. Currently she teaches courses in Journalism, Story Writing for Media, Communications, and MFA in Creative Non-Fiction. Wanda served as Manager for the Canada Games National Artist Program of the 39 diverse youth artists from across the country, who performed in the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2011 Canada Games. Her latest book, It’s Our Time, on the history of the Preston Township (Nimbus Publishing) was released in February 2021. Wanda has won awards for her work, including the Women of Excellence Award for Arts and Culture.