Media City Film Festival 2023 Catalogue

COMPETITION JURY Faraz Anoushahpour (1987). Artist, filmmaker, and programmer originally from Iran, now based in Canada. Bachelor in Architecture from Architectural Association (London, UK); MFA (Interdisciplinary Art) from OCAD (Toronto).

Programmer at Images Festival (2014–2018).

15+ films and installations since 2013 in collaboration with Parastoo Anoushahpour and Ryan Ferko; screenings and exhibitions at venues including European Media Art Festival, Viennale, The Museum of Modern Art, Media City Film Festival, and New York Film Festival.

MCFF Chrysalis Fellow (2020). Lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Ed Halter (1970). Film programmer and writer born in Boston, now based in New York. Director of Light Industry in Brooklyn and curator of screenings and exhibitions at venues including Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and Tate Modern. Programmer and Director of New York Underground Film Festival (1995–2005). Author of several books including Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games (2006) and frequent contributor to Artforum, Cinema Scope, frieze, The New Yorker, and other publications. Critic in Residence, Film and Electronic Arts, at Bard College (Red Hook). Lives in New York, New York.

Malena Szlam (1979). Artist and filmmaker born in Chile, now based in Canada. Studied visual art at ARCIS University (Santiago); MFA (Film Production) from Concordia University (Montréal). 10+ films and installations since 2008; screenings at venues including New York Film Festival, CPH:DOX, International Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Los Angeles Filmforum, and Moscow International Film Festival. MCFF Underground Mines commissioned artist (2015).

Awarded Grand Prix Melbourne IFF and TIFF’s Top Ten Canadian Films (2018). Member of Double Negative, a collective dedicated to production and exhibition of experimental cinema.

Lives in Montréal, Québec.