E. Jane Thompson

An award-winning director of television series and short films, I returned to studies at Regent's University London, UK. I graduated with an MA degree in Writing for Screen & Stage and won the Regent's School of Drama, Film & Media Postgraduate Student Award. I have directed over fifty hours of dramatic television and garnered Geminis for Best Short Drama and Best Direction of a Dramatic Series. My television movie, Coming of Age, won Geminis for Best Supporting Actor and Actress and earned a Gemini nomination for Best TV Movie. My award-winning short films have screened at dozens of film festivals and sold to broadcasters in Canada and internationally. My films range in tone from lyrical dramas to "a straight-faced screwball scenario that is both funny and emotionally honest" (Juror, NSI Online Short Film Fest). Critics have praised my films as "beautifully realized" (Globe & Mail), "beautifully shot and directed" (Toronto Star), and "refreshingly understated and self-possessed" (Ottawa Citizen). I have facilitated directing workshops in a variety of professional development settings and taught directing in Sheridan's Advanced Television & Film postgraduate program. Five years as director facilitator and advisor to the National Screen Institute's Drama Prize program culminated in each of the 2011/12 directors' films being invited to TIFF and the Cannes Film Festival. A long-time advocate for women in the industry, I am a founding member of Women in Film & Television - Toronto and have served on the board of Women in the Director's Chair. I have ensured that the accomplishments of women are acknowledged through initiatives like the presentation of the Canadian Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award to casting director Dorothy Gardner and the naming of the Barbara Sears Editorial Research Canadian Screen Award.