For the second annual [Interactive] Incubator Project, the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival has teamed up with the Vice, Secret Location and William F. White International to give five Atlantic Canadian women the opportunity to develop their first web-based or interactive media project.

The five creators will be given full access to the St. John’s Women’s International Film Festival this October, including screenings and networking opportunities (i.e VIP Galas and parties). They will also attend the [Interactive] Film Industry Forum workshops and panels, and be paired with leading industry experts from across Canada for one-on-one consultations and meetings to refine and strengthen their projects.

These industry experts will include Nina Sundra from Vice Canada, and Noora Abu Eitah from Secret Location, winner of a digital Emmy Award, a Gemini Award, as well as several marketing and Webby awards. Winners will also receive a $2000 voucher for film gear from William F. White International.

Two of the Five Winners are Local Women

Allie Duff: Tilted & Tiled
Tilted and Tiled will be an interactive documentary about Newfoundland and Labrador’s resettled villages.

“I’m very excited to meet with industry professionals and learn about their different film making processes,” Duff says. “I’m very new to film, but my production partner and I, Alyson Samson, are incredibly excited to move ahead with our documentary. And I think the incubator project is going to give me the confidence and knowledge to enter the NL film industry.”

Allie Duff is a writer and musician living in St. John’s, nearing completion of her B.A. in English Literature at MUN. She is also a founder of Spoken Word St. John’s, an organization that plans monthly poetry open mics.

Allie Duff & The Happy Campers’ single 6A.M recently won the Nickel Independent Film Festival’s 48 Hour Music Video Challenge. In 2015, Allie’s short story, (re)Wild Children was long listed for the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland’s postcard story contest.

Michelle Rex Bailey: Roadside Acceptance
Roadside Acceptance will be an interactive documentary about Newfoundland’s roadside memorials and the joy and controversy they bring.

Michelle has been involved in the arts for over 20 years, and was an actor with Rising Tide Theatre at the Summer in the Bight Theatre Festival, Trinity Pageant, and Revue. She has performed with Wonderbolt and toured Ireland with West Moon.

Her film credits include Random Passage, Grand Seduction, Newfoundland at Armageddon, and Love & Savagery. She was co-writer on Times We Had, Snow What, and the comedy showDon’t Be So Foolish. Michelle won the Rhonda Payne Award for a woman in theatre in 2007.

The Other Three Winners Hail from Atlantic Canada …

Andrea Levesque: Signified
Signified will be an interactive documentary mapping stenciled street art in Atlantic Canada.

Louise Lalonde: Weeds to Live By
Weeds to Live By will be a bright, musical web series about local food and local foraging.

Meredith MacNeill: Folder of Clues
Folder of Clues will be a web series and companion video game about two tough-talkin’, arse-kickin’ lady cops set in the 1980s.