Helmann Wilhelm

Writer

Helmann Wilhelm is a Taiwanese-American screenwriter born in Texas, but raised in Canada. He is a two-time recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts grant and the Waterloo Region Arts Fund. Collectively, his work has been selected at the Austin Film Festival, Slamdance, PAGE Screenwriting Competition, Nashville Film Festival, Final Draft Big Break, Atlanta Film Festival, and ScreenCraft. He is also an alum of the Netflix-Banff Fellowship, the Reelworld Emerging 20 Program, and a finalist for the Reel Asian Film Festival’s So You Think You Can Pitch Competition. A lifelong student, 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.