Powys Dewhurst

For over 10 years he has produced forward-facing film and TV industry events in collaboration with broadcasters, media organizations, and film festivals in North America through partnerships with Bell Media, Corus, CBC, Vice, eOne, Visual Effects Society, TIFF, National Film Board, BravoFACT and others, to create training, funding, access, screenings, and panels for underrepresented film and TV creators which were held at venues Ontario Place Cinesphere, Ryerson University, Canadian Film Centre and Hot Docs Cinema. As of 2020, through filmmaker development initiatives, he has sourced over two hundred speakers, industry partnerships, sponsors and mentors in the US, Canada and UK. He has been an industry guest judge and speaker at the Canadian Media Producers Association Prime Time Conference, Planet In Focus - Canada's Largest Environmental Film Festival, The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's Canadian Screen Awards, Female Eye Film Festival, Regent Park Film Festival, where he has evaluated compelling projects with industry colleagues. He has spoken at the Toronto Black Film Festival, and at Raindance Film Festival in Europe, where his team awarded project sponsorship to filmmakers around the world from as diverse as Sweden, Iran and Montreal, Quebec. He is a media event producer, programmer, facilitator, producer and occasional filmmaker and has been invited to speak to students in Ontario schools, the Toronto Public Library and in Chicago with his team. His focus is in encouraging young BIPOC filmmakers to push beyond the boundaries of what is expected of them and what they expect of themselves. Among his notable interviews include Sir Sidney Poitier, VFX pioneer Douglas Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, Star Trek: The Motion Picture). He's Black, Caribbean-Canadian and British. His work and initiatives have been endorsed by UNESCO, CMPA and other entities.