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PRODUCTION TEAM ~ working to bring Wicked People to life!
PRODUCERS
MICHAEL MORTENSEN ~ CREATIVE HEAD / WRITER / PRODUCER / DIRECTOR
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Michael Mortensen is author of the acclaimed novel Karnival, which to date has seen three editions:
 Gutter Press - 2002 (Trade PB)
CNIB - 2003 (Daisy Audio CD)
CNIB - 2003 (4-Track Cassette)
In 2003, Mortensen wrote and oversaw design and production of Nutrition Made Simple, a companion CD-Rom to "A Family Forum" (Pyman Studios Inc.) broadcast nationwide January 2004.
From 1990-92, he was Writer of "Video Preview," a production of MMC Video One Canada, "Canada's Largest Distributor of Home Entertainment." "Video Preview" was an "Entertainment Tonight"-style program seen in over 5000 markets across Canada.
In addition to publication in Vampirella and Blood & Aphorisms magazines, he wrote the text for Can-Am Entertainment's 1992 Toronto's First Class Males Calendar and the larger format 1993 edition, Canadian Fantasies Calendar.
Throughout 1983, he was a regular contributing illustrator to Avenue Magazine, then Toronto's largest magazine at 100,000 copies per issue.
Websites: www.michaelmortensen.com | www.kliegs.com
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Praise for Mortensen's Karnival
(2002 Gutter Press ~ trade pb.; 2003 CNIB ~ CD; 2003 CNIB ~ cassette)
"From its evocative opening sentences to its startling yet inevitable finale, Karnival ... weaves a compelling spell. ... Mortensen has created a vividly true world."
~ Quill & Quire
"entertaining ride ... sheer weirdness."
~ The Globe & Mail
"The strongest opening chapter in contemporary Canadian literature. ... Enjoyed every page thoroughly. ... What great writing, amazing setting and super pacing."
~ A. Haq, Writer/Producer
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LESLIE ANN COLES ~ PRODUCER / DIRECTOR & PERFORMER
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Leslie Ann Coles is a multiple award winning filmmaker and actress. Her background in Dance Theatre and mixed media performance art led her from stage to screen in the late 1990s.
Her debut film, "In The Refrigerator" ~ which she co-produced, wrote, directed, and starred in ~ was selected for screenings in more than thirty-five international film festivals.
"In The Refrigerator" has garnered multiple awards for Best Picture, Best Short Film, Best Avant-Garde, Best Director, Best Actress, and the Grand Jury Award: Filmmaker in an Acting Role. Coles was most recently awarded Women In The Director's Chair (WIDC) 2005, selected among six other Canadian female directors, where she shot a main scene from her Aboriginal feature, "Passing of Souls." "Shooting Stars," her first documentary series with Microtainment/Docutainment Plus Productions, won the Banff TV and Film Festival Fellowship Award 2003.
Coles is the proud Founder and Festival Director of the Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) in Toronto, which celebrated its 5th Anniversary in June 2006.
Website: www.femaleeyefilmfestival.com |
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Awards for Coles' In The Refrigerator
(2000; 16 mm; 40 min.)
Grand Jury Award ~ Barebones International Film Festival 2001
Best Film ~ Sharpshooter Film Festival, Pigeon Forge, TN 2001
Best Picture, Women's Category ~ Zoie Film Festival, Atlanta Georgia, USA 2001
Best Short Film Dealing with Mental Illness ~ Cinevue Film & Video Festival 2001
Award of Excellence/ Best Short Film ~ Valleyfest Film Festival, Knoxville, TN 2001
Best Director ~ Kissimmee Film Festival, Florida USA 2000
Best Avant-Garde ~ Cinevue International Film & Video Festival, Florida, USA 2001
Best Actress ~ Cinevue International Film & Video Festival, Florida, USA 2001
Best Actress ~ Kissimmee Film Festival, Florida, USA 2000
Certificate of Merit ~ Prix Leonardo, Italy 2001
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CAYLE CHERNIN ~ PRODUCER & PERFORMER
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Cayle Chernin began her career as part of the cast of the Classic Canadian film "Goin' Down The Road" and has worked as an actor, writer, producer/director, teacher and off-line editor for the past twenty years.
In Los Angeles, she worked for Henry Jaglom as writer/actor on his second film "Tracks" that starred Dennis Hopper. She adapted Anais Nin's erotic novel Cities of the Interior into a screenplay for Jaglom's International Rainbow Pictures.
Chernin has produced and written a number of award-winning independent videos with funding from The Independent Film and Video Fund, OFDC, Ontario and Canada Arts Councils, as well as private investment. She has produced programs broadcast on CBC, Vision TV, and WTN.
A personal documentary "Uncle Boris and My Russian Relatives" was aired on CBC Atlantic, as part of Women's Works, CBC Vancouver and SCN Saskatchewan. "I Am Home," the hour version, premiered at The Cape Town Film Festival, South Africa and played on Vision TV and WTN. The award winning "In The Shadows, The Forgotten Jews of Syria," premiered on Israel TV and stands as one of two documentaries chronicling this now-extinct population.
Website: www.cayle.ca
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Awards for Chernin
Cape Town International Film Festival, South Africa
~ 1998 I Am Home 48 min.
Cape Town International Film Festival, South Africa
~ 1998 In The Shadows 43 min.
Honourable Mention, Jewish Video Competition
~ 1997 A Man of Conscience 23 min.
Vancouver Women’s Works Festival
~ 1995 Uncle Boris and My Russian Relatives 23 min.
Honourable Mention, Jewish Video Competition
~ 1995 Uncle Boris and My Russian Relatives 23 min.
Awarded Canada 125 Medal;
Honourable Mention, Columbus Film Festival
~ 1993 The Man Who Couldn't Lose 24 min.
The Houston Film Festival, Bronze Medal;
U.S. Industrial Film and Video Festival, Certificate for Creative Excellence;
Honourable Mention from the Columbus Film Festival
~ 1991 In The Shadows, 43 min.
McLean Hunter Seniors Category Award
~ 1989 Aging in Institutions, 90 min.
Children's Broadcast Institute Award
~ 1983 The Party's Over, 20 min.
Trinity Square Video Archives Award
~ 1983 Bonk Sells Out 20 min.
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| TEAM MEMBERS ~ MUSIC |
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Chloe Charles's music is sweet and painful, melancholic, inspiring and sincere. As she opens herself to her listeners, Chloe tells a story of a sensitive, fragile, haunted soul always searching for understanding and her place in this strange world. This translates into an eerie, enchanting, engaging and frequently visceral sound experience. Vibrating with the turmoil of drawing together while simultaneously being torn between several disparate worlds, Chloe's lyrics offer endless possibilities for her listeners to relate to her pain, while her voice massages, gently tickles, or seizes them with her strength and capacity to emote.
Website: www.chloecharles.com
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Serafin is a Toronto-based singer, songwriter, playwright, and arts journalist, with a startling five-octave vocal range and powerful stage presence that mesmerize audiences. His first release, 2am At The Torch Café, blends torch, jazz, blues, and re-workings of pop standards from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. This "new kind of jazz album" is produced by jazz impresario Jaymz Bee.
Website: www.serafin.ca
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| TEAM MEMBERS ~ DIRECTORS |
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Jason J. Brown is director and digital designer for "Letter to Liza" ~ the first Wicked People Production, nominated Best Experimental Film for its World Premiere at Female Eye Film Festival 2006.
Brown has been working in mixed media for many years in Toronto. Currently he is freelancing for a children's theatre company creating sets, costumes and printed materials and also shooting and editing short video commisions, and creating video installations for public events. His passion is with a hybrid of live action and digital sets produced under the banner "Low Resolution Films & Herky Jerky Pictures" since 1998. The resulting short films have been shown at several festivals, including Rendezvous With Madness, Hamilton Photophobia Festival, Toronto Digital Image Festival, and behind the scenes at SIGGRAPH 99 and SIGGRAPH 2000. Now that computer processing technology is capable, Jason's digital worlds are now finally being rendered in realtime projection for live performance purposes.
Website: www.jasonjbrown.com
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