Helmann Wilhelm

Writer

Helmann Wilhelm is a Taiwanese-Canadian screenwriter born in Texas, but raised in Kitchener, Ontario. He is a two-time recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts grant and the Waterloo Region Arts Fund while his work has placed at the Austin Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, and Nashville Film Festival, among others. He is also an alum of the Reelworld Emerging 20 Program and a finalist for the Reel Asian Film Festival’s So You Think You Can Pitch Competition. The following year, his 1-hour drama, CREEMORE VILLAGE, was chosen as 1 of 25 projects for the Netflix-Banff Fellowship and Pitch Program where he was mentored by showrunner Joseph Kay. Helmann holds a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Bell Media Prime Time TV Program (2022).

Ava Torres

Producer

A graduate from the University of Toronto, she holds a Master’s degree in Literature and a Bachelor’s degree in Cinema Studies and Spanish Literature. With a keen interest in film and television, she brings a unique perspective to the industry having moved over ten times across four different countries.

She is the winning recipient of the inaugural WIFT-T Meridian Artists Agency Mentorship (2017) and the CMPA Producer Mentorship (2017). Ava has worked as an Associate for the Literary and Director Division at Meridian Artists, a talent agency that represents writers and directors on leading Canadian shows such as Schitt’s Creek, Kim’s Convenience, and Orphan Black. Ava has brought all of this experience to the broadcasting side of the industry as a Senior Specialist at CBC for their Acquisitions department where their team acquires international shows for the Gem streaming service.