Grant Harvey has been directing film and television for over 17 years. For his feature debut, Grant directed the independent feature “American Beer.” The film debuted at the Vancouver International Film Festival and was programmed at the Florida Film Festival and at Cannes. He then directed Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning for Lionsgate Entertainment. He also directed second unit on The Dark, starring Maria Bello and Sean Bean. His episodic television work includes Flash Gordon, Whistler, Shoebox Zoo, Mentors and 2030 CE. Grant has also directed over 20 music videos and over 250 commercial campaigns in Canada and the U.S. He has earned numerous Canadian and international awards.


Josh Miller is an award-winning writer/producer and President of Panacea Entertainment, a Canadian independent film and television production company based in Edmonton.

Josh’s long-form producing credits include the feature films Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale, Intern Academy, Viva Las Nowhere (a.k.a. Dead Simple), Something More and the MOW Stranger in Town.

His dramatic television series producing credits include Anash and the Legacy of the Sun-Rock, Myth Quest, 2030CE and Mentors.

Variety, lifestyle and factual television credits include the series A Total Write-Off! and Great Cemeteries of the World and the one-hour documentary programs Catching the Chameleon, The Fringe: Acting Up and Seeds of Change: The ECO Fund Story.


Before founding Film Bridge International, Ellen Wander was Senior Vice President of Turner Pictures Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting, for nearly six years. She is credited with having introduced Turner Broadcasting to the international theatrical and video distribution community. In that position, Ellen managed a staff of fifteen and arranged theatrical distribution in over 30 markets for Turner-produced feature films. She was responsible for the sales of Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Turner’s first feature film, in all international markets as well as in the United States and Canada.

Prior to Turner, Ellen was Vice President of Ancillary Distribution at RKO Pictures where she sold new RKO productions as well as library films to pay and basic cable television companies in North America. In addition, she was in charge of the RKO Home Video Operation.

Ellen began her career in the cable television industry and worked at the Walt Disney Company as National Accounts Manager on the introduction of The Disney Channel. Ellen also served on the Board of the American Film Marketing Association and has been involved in the organization’s Industry Relations Committee.

Ellen has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the State University of New York and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Syracuse University.


Kevin DeWalt is the Chief Executive Officer and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Minds Eye Entertainment Ltd.

Winner of the prestigious Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s Chetwynd Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence and Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the media category, Kevin has produced over 40 film and television projects and has spearheaded the development of a regional production company into an internationally-recognized, vertically-integrated organization which includes subsidiaries in distribution and development. Over the years, Minds Eye has won over 60 national and international awards. To date, Minds Eye has produced over $230,000,000 in production volume and has over 400 hours of programming in its library.

Kevin has been instrumental in establishing, within the Canadian film and television industry, exceptional, exportable projects that have been sold to over 175 territories around the world. In 2007, Kevin produced the four-hour mini series The Englishman’s Boy starring Bob Hoskins. The 2006 production, Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, a four-hour mini series, was bought by The Hallmark Channel and will be released in 156 territories and versioned into 18 languages.

Other selected credits include: the UK/Canada television movie Lyddie for the BBC; The Swiss/Canada 4 hour mini series The Lost Daughter starring Richard Chamberlain; the one hour legal drama series Just Cause starring Richard Thomas for PAX and W Network; the television
movie Betrayed for CBC; 26 episodes of the live action adventure teen series 2030CE for YTV and Showtime Kids; 26 episodes of the travel adventure series My Global Adventure for Life Network and The Travel Channel; 54 episodes of the teen drama series Mentors for the Family Channel and Discovery Kids; a 13-episode German/Canada one hour live action/CGI youth series MythQuest broadcasting on PBS and CBC; and the 65-episode Canada/Ireland youth drama series Incredible Story Studio sold to over 170 countries and broadcasting on major channels including The Disney channel, Discovery Kids, NHK, ABC, SABC and YTV.

Kevin has also achieved Executive Producer credits on the following feature films: Decoy starring Robert Patrick and Peter Weller; The Last Dance starring Patrick Swayze; The Unsaid starring Andy Garcia and Teri Polo; Falling Angels staring Miranda Richardson; Viva Las Nowhere starring James Caan and Daniel Stern; and Held Up starring Jamie Foxx and Nia Long. Currently Kevin is producing the feature film Walled In, a France/Canada co-production starring Mischa Barton, Cameron Bright and Debra Unger.


Myron Hyrak loves color. He started out in the film industry about 15 years ago as a scenic painter. He began decorating sets and working with props which eventually led him to becoming a production designer. Myron has worked on feature films like Moondance Alexander, For the Love of a Child, Intern Academy and The Christmas Blessing. He has also worked on TV productions like Mentors, Children’s Miracle Network Telethon and The Walter Gretzky Story.

As production designer, Myron is responsible for the overall ‘look’ of Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale. For him, designing the sets, supervising construction, assembling props and, of course, working with the paint department helps him to create something where there was nothing before. Add working with a great crew and Myron feels like a lucky man to be doing what he enjoys. He considers working on Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale “one of the happiest experiences I’ve ever had on a show”, despite the constant challenges of the harsh Edmonton weather.


From an early age John Spooner has had an interest in photography. As a teenager, he started making his first films on super 8 cameras with his high school friends and this is where he developed his love for the creative process and especially the craft of cinematography. That “amazement” for controlling the mood and scene led him to Algonquin College in Ottawa for a film production course and then as a camera assistant. Shortly thereafter, John moved out west to work on industrial films and commercials. In Edmonton, he was hired as DP for all the film segments of the legendary “SCTV” series while continuing to pursue his interest in dramatic films.

Today, John Spooner’s resume displays an impressive body of work in various disciplines. John has a long-standing relationship with Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale producer Josh Miller and has also worked with him on the live-action/animation TV Series Anash and The Legacy of the Sun Rock as well as the feature Intern Academy starring Dave Thomas and Dan Aykroyd. Other recent work includes the TV series Mixed Blessings, the feature Christmas in Wonderland, the MOW Decoy’s Rebirth and the mini-series Merlin’s Apprentice for Hallmark Entertainment.

John has garnered acclaim and awards receiving an Emmy for Visual Effects, Cameraman for Dreamkeeper (Mini Series), Leo Award, Best Cinematography Feature Length Drama for Voyage of the Unicorn (Mini Series) and an AMPIA Award, Best Cinematography, Drama Series for Ray Bradbury Theatre.

On Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale…
“Without a doubt the biggest challenge on Freezer Burn was filming a movie in October in Alberta that is supposed to take place in the hot months of summer. We were concerned about snow. We were able to get all the exteriors filmed before it snowed however, we did run into some extreme wind on more than one occasion. One night, we were doing a big shoot in a grain field. Just after we got our wide master, this huge wind came out of nowhere. We had two condors with lights 80 feet in the air. We had to pull both of the lifts down immediately. The challenge was to now light the actors close ups to match the Wide Master with a completely different lighting set up. It was a challenge, however in the end it worked quite well and the strong wind did give the scene an amazing look.”

“Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale was originally going to be shot on Super 35mm. Because the film is a comedy, director Grant Harvey wanted to give the actors the luxury of a few extra takes so they could ad lib a little. We decided to switch to HD using the Panavision Genesis camera system. Because this is a theatrical release, the Genesis is the only HD camera I would consider. The contrast range is amazing and you do get that "Film Look". The Genesis was a dream to shoot with, and it allowed us to shoot a lot more footage for the same amount of money.”


Mike Shields crafts music with precision and intelligence. His melodies have grace, passion and hooks galore built around compelling lyrics. Part of his job is to record and perform these songs to a loyal following.

Mike also gets to score television shows and major feature films like Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale, Ginger Snaps, 100 Days in the Jungle, and Crazy Canucks. Working with talented directors and creating a mood for the audience, makes the moving pictures even more memorable.

Mike has composed and performed jingles and music tracks for some of the most successful advertising campaigns in the country. He's helped sell Fords, Toyotas and clothes from Mark's Work Wearhouse.

Mike has been a musician all his life, studying classical piano at the age of five. Raised by two music teachers, there was no shortage of knowledge and inspiration in his home.

In 1995, Mike released his debut CD, Grace Motel. Two singles charted nationally and his award-wining videos aired on CMT, MuchMusic and other shows like The Country Beat on CBC. Mike's television performances for the record included the Dini Petty Show, Global TV, City TV and many others. His second CD, Stranger Than Fiction was released across the country in 1999 to critical acclaim.

In addition to writing and performing his own songs, Mike started Jet Music Inc. that year and became the music director for Sync Spot Digital Audio Post in Calgary. Recently, he has opened Jet Music Canada and become a partner in SoundProof (a commercial music company) in Toronto.

Since the release of his last record, the film bug has bitten hard and Mike's been scoring many feature film scores, television programs, and commercials - and winning several awards along the way.

While busier than ever with that side of his career and spare time is hard to come by, he's back at writing his own material and hard at work on his own screenplay - about, what else?, music.


Dave migrated to a career in editing purely as a survival mechanism. After graduating from the University of Calgary with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1991, he was exercising his technical left brain as an Electricity Trader in Calgary's hurried energy sector by day. At night, he was flexing his creative right brain playing guitar in a local folk-rock band. Each of these part-time roles demanded a full-time brain, and push finally came to shove.

Dave quit his high-pressure day job to embark on a career in film and television. After graduating from SAIT's CTSR Film/Video program in 2004, both his creative and technical brains found themselves happily working together in the edit suites of joe: Media Group in Calgary.

Dave's credits as an Editor include several episodes of TV shows Fixing Dinner and Fish Out of Water, dozens of commercials for numerous clients, including Ford, SportChek and Maxwell Realty, as well as several music videos. Short films include The Letter and The Curse of the Piano. Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale is his first feature film.


Leo founded Bleeding Art Industries more than ten years ago and incorporated the company in 2002. He has a BFA from the University of Calgary and a MFA from the University of Victoria. He has designed costumes, sets, and lights for theatre and performing arts companies across Canada, and has toured worldwide. A pyrotechnics educator for the Explosives Regulatory Division, he also designed and implemented fireworks and other pyrotechnic displays
before moving into the film industry.

Special effects credits include CBC TV's Heartland, Terry Gilliam's Tideland, Exit Wounds, K-19: The Widowmaker, Ginger Snaps, The Mountain, Shanghai Noon, Knockaround Guys, Duct Tape Forever, and many made-for-TV films, commercials, and special events.
Since 2002, Bleeding Art has evolved into a full special effects shop including make-up and creature effects, specialty fabrication, product and equipment sales, and equipment rentals. The company recently launched ProstheticFX – a line of special effects make-up and related products.

Leo was honored in 2007 with the Best Special Effects Creator award at the motion picture industries' AMPIA Awards for his work on the movie Broken Trail starring actor Robert Duvall, and for Ginger Snaps Back in 2004. He was also nominated the same year for Entrepreneur of the Year at the Ernst & Young Small Business Awards.


Devora Drown has been working in film for the better part of 15 years. She is proud to include on her resume the award winning projects, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Plan B / Warner Bros.), Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee (HBO), Into the West (TNT), and Brokeback Mountain (Focus Features). Feature film, television, commercials, video and print are all aspects of styling that she enjoys and which keep her on her toes. She is always delighted to work with director Grant Harvey.


Prudence Olenik brings with her 27 years of industry experience. She won the AMPIA award for make-up in 2001 and has been nominated for an AMPIA award six times. In 2003 Prudence was nominated for a GEMINI Award for her work on 100 Days in the Jungle which won for best TV movie that year.

During her career, she has been the Head of the Make-Up Department for such television series as Destiny Ridge, Jake and the Kid, and Mentors. As well, she has played a key role in make-up departments for such films as Bye Bye Blues, Ordeal in the Arctic, Summer of the Monkeys, Snowday, War Bride, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, Ginger Snaps III: The Beginning, 12 Days of Christmas Eve, and The Walter Gretzky Story.

To remain on the cutting edge of her craft, Prudence regularly attends The Make-Up Artist Trade Show in Los Angeles to talk with leading make-up artists and to learn about new products. For six years she has been the Film Vice President for IATSE Local 210 in Edmonton, also sitting on the Education and Training Committee and the Membership Committee. In addition, she is a member of The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and also of The Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association.

To help establish and maintain standards in her field, she has been involved with developing exams and adjudicating the Make-Up Trade Test for Alberta. Prudence trained as an actress at STUDIO 58 in Vancouver and as a make-up artist at GREASEPAINT in London, England.