Javier Badillo

Javier Badillo is a Venezuelan-Canadian film writer-director whose films explore themes of displacement and belonging, with fish-out-of-water characters, and a firmly embedded sense of irony. Switching from an animation career to live action independent filmmaking in 2008, his short films have screened and won awards at international film festivals, including Edmonton Int'l FF, Toronto Independent Film Festival, Toronto Int'l Black Film Festival, Cannes Int'l FF, Hoboken FF, Charlotte Int'l Black FF, Regina Int'l FF, and Harrogate Int'l Film Festival (UK), where he won an Audience Choice award for his dark comedy Fatal Rhapsody. In 2018, his drama Coco Blue received a nomination for a Leo Award (best performance, Kendra Westwood), won Best Actress and Best Music at the Short Circuit Pacific Rim Int'l Short Film Festival, and was nominated for 8 categories, including Best Canadian Film and Best Director, at the Hollywood North Int'l FF in Toronto, Canada. In 2019 Javier directed his first feature length film Roads of Ithriyah (with his collaborators Shayan Bayat and Jay Kamal), an adventure drama about a Syrian militant who suffers a concussion and can't remember his allegiances in the war. The film is expected to be released in 2020. Javier has been involved with the Vancouver Short Film Festival as their Head of Programming since 2012. Previously, Javier moderated the forums of the Institute for International Film Financing (IIFF) and was the first Vancouver Regional Director for Raindance, an international filmmakers society and film festival. In 2018 Javier received a nomination from the Vancouver Inspirational Latin Awards (in the Arts and Culture category), and in 2019 he won the prestigious RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award for his contributions to Canadian culture, with a monetary prize he donated to the Venezuelan Refugee cause.