Corus Apprentice Program

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CORUS ENTERTAINMENT AND BANFF 2021 ANNOUNCE RECIPIENTS OF THE CORUS APPRENTICE PROGRAM – LIFESTYLE SHOWRUNNER

TORONTO, June 1, 2021 – Corus and the Banff World Media Festival are pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Corus Apprentice Program: Lifestyle Showrunner. The 2021 cohort will receive:

One marketplace pass to BANFF 2021 with access to panels, keynotes, master classes and networking opportunities from June to July
Virtual mentorship opportunities with key development executives
A two-week showrunner internship placement on a Corus-supported lifestyle production between June 2021 and June 2022.
& complimentary registration and travel to BANFF 2022 in Banff, Alberta.

“With a purposeful approach to supporting underrepresented voices and perspectives, the 2021 Corus Apprentice Program: Lifestyle Showrunner speaks to Corus’ commitment to diversifying representation behind the camera,” said Colin Bohm, EVP, Content and Corporate Strategy, Corus Entertainment. “Our 2021 Program cohort represents talented industry professionals in television production, reality programming and documentary series looking to advance their careers in the lifestyle and unscripted genres and we’re pleased to facilitate this opportunity for them.”

The 2021 recipients are:

Ashley Da-Lê Duong – Montreal

Ashley is a Vietnamese-Canadian filmmaker from Calgary based in Montreal. Having produced, directed, and written unscripted series and documentaries for the past decade, Ashley is looking to broaden her skills by showrunning. Ashley has produced over 15 segments/videos for the CBC series CBC Arts: Exhibitionists and two episodes of Canada’s a Drag available to watch on CBC Gem. Her feature directorial debut A Time to Swim won numerous festival awards including Best First Feature at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival. An advocate for equity in the film industry and advancing ethical documentary practices, Ashley is a proud member of Brown Girl Doc Mafia, A-Doc, and BIPOC TV & Film. Her directorial work, which has been broadcasted on Al Jazeera, CBC, Superchannel, IsumaTV and more, often explores the relationships between identity, heritage and nature.

Aren X. Tulchinsky –Vancouver

Aren (he/him), a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre, is a writer, story editor, picture editor and director. Aren has written and edited numerous documentary and lifestyle television series, including CBC’s The Nature of Things, Showcase’s KINK, CityTV’s The Bachelor Canada, Slice’s First Dates, HGTV Canada’s Save My Reno, CTV’s Robson Arms and Global’sThe Guard. An episode Aren edited for the acclaimed APTN documentary series, Queen of the Oil Patch, was recently nominated for a Canadian Screen Award. A short film directed by Aren, Ms. Thing, screened globally in over 55 LBGTQ2S+ film festivals, winning the Audience Choice Award at Queer Fruits Australia. Aren’s award-winning novel, The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky, was a Toronto Book Award Finalist and honoured with a permanent plaque in Christie Pits Park by Project Bookmark Canada. Aren lives and works in Vancouver, respectfully acknowledging the land is the traditional, unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ / sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Coast Salish peoples.

Heather Seaman – Toronto

Heather is a broadcaster with 20 years of experience in radio and television. She’s worked in front and behind the camera, as a writer, reporter, host, segment producer, field producer and videographer, creating content for the CBC, CP24, CityTV, CPAC, CHUM Radio, 680News, Rogers TV, The NewVR, Sun TV, 105.9 The Region, Newstalk1010 and BNN Bloomberg. Early in her career, she developed strong storytelling skills and helped to create content for the docuseries Echo which aired on Sun TV. As a field producer, she coordinated Rogers TV Scene at the Festival shoots at TIFF red carpets and film industry events. While a correspondent and producer for CPAC’s On the Bright Side, she travelled across Canada for eight seasons, interviewing newsmakers, pitching, writing and producing original content airing nationally on CPAC. More recently, she researched, wrote and produced segments for live daily news/talk/lifestyle programming airing nationally on CTV’s The Social and Your Morning.

Steve Sxwithul’txw – Victoria

Steve is from the Penelakut Tribe located just off Vancouver Island, Canada. Steve trained as a journalist and worked in various newsrooms including CTV and CBC Vancouver, and is still a freelance journalist working with CBC. Steve realized he wanted to tell stories of his own people thus forming Kwassen Productions Inc. In 2020, Steve directed & produced Season 3 of APTN’s Tribal Police Files currently in post-production for release in fall of 2021, and directed a new short film Finding the Balance currently being shown globally in film festival circuits. In 2018, Steve directed his first short film Leave it on the Water. In 2014, Steve created the Leo Award winning documentary series Warrior Games that aired on APTN and CHEK on Vancouver Island. Steve is currently the president of Kwassen Productions Inc. which is located out of his home community of Penelakut Island, BC. His first passion is his family.

Ruth Nanda – Vancouver

Ruth is a Vancouver-based writer, story editor and story producer who, over the past 10 years, has helped create over 85 hours of unscripted television. Her initiation into reality TV began with Slice on The Real Housewives of Vancouver, and continued with work on acclaimed documentary series such as Knowledge Network’s Emergency Room: Life and Death at VGH and CBC’s Keeping Canada Alive. Most recently, she served as senior story editor on popular lifestyle and factual series such as HGTV Canada’s Save My Reno and HISTORY Canada’s Rust Valley Restorers. Ruth delights in telling stories that enrich and entertain, no matter the genre.