National Gathering of Latin Canadian Filmmakers

Panel: Mapping Brazil

Friday, May 12

1 PM to 2:30 PM

Maison de développement durable (Salle Clark), 50 Ste-Catherine Ouest


Facilitated by soJin Chun, this panel will introduce the film practices of Brazilian-Canadian filmmakers Anna Iunes, Sarah Shamash and Gabriel Souza Nunes, and will open up for wider discussion on Brazilian-Canadian cinema and its place within the larger Latin Canadian cinema landscape.

Animé par soJin Chun, ce panel présentera les carrières des cinéastes brésiliens-canadiens Anna Iunes, Sarah Shamash et Gabriel Souza Nunes, et ouvrira une discussion plus large sur le cinéma brésilien-canadien et sa place dans le paysage cinématographique latinx-canadien.

Panelist: Anna IunesPanelist: Sarah ShamashPanelist: Gabriel Souza NunesFacilitator: soJin Chun
Panelist: Anna Iunes | Montreal

Anna Iunes is a Brazilian filmmaker and multimedia visual artist based in Canada. She has an MFA in Film Production (Studio Arts) from the Concordia University in Montreal and a BFA in Cinema (Social Communications) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. In film, she has mainly worked as a writer & director, but has also worked as a script supervisor, assistant director and production designer. Her works have been screened in Brazil, Canada, Greece, India, Italy, USA & Spain. In her practice, Anna creates not only moving images, but encompassing and immersive experiences. She likes to fragment narratives and images with the use of multiple screens. The dramatic and interpretative aspect of a film is essential for her: working closely with actors and performers is a big part of her creative process.

Panelist: Sarah Shamash | Vancouver

Sarah Shamash is an artist, educator, curator, and media scholar living and raising her son on unsurrendered Indigenous lands in Vancouver. Her research thinks critically about the ways hegemonic media cultures define social structures and categories. Conversely, she examines how Global South, Non-Western, diaspora, women and gender non-conforming subjects provide alternative visions for the future of our planet through radical imaginations. Her film and artworks have been shown in curated exhibitions and film festivals internationally. She currently teaches film studies at the University of British Columbia and Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

Panelist: Gabriel Souza Nunes | Vancouver

Gabriel Souza Nunes is an award-winning Brazilian Writer & Director based in Vancouver, BC. After graduating with honours from Vancouver Film School (2019), he had his directorial debut with the sci-fi short film The Party at the Whistler Film Festival 2019, followed right after by short films like Subject 42 (2019), Alone (2020), Goodbye (2021) and All The Things I Never Said To You (currently in post-production). Gabriel believes in the power of mixing emotions, memories and technology as a meaningful form of human expression, navigating through sci-fi, magical realism and improv, always adding a surrealistic twist to his work. He is a strong advocate for representation in front and behind the camera, especially for the Latinx and LGBTQAI+ communities. His first short documentary I Remember Everything (2022) won Best Latin-Canadian Short Film at the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival 2022, and in January 2023 Gabriel was selected as one of the Crazy8s top 6 directors with his script Passiflora (2023), a queer magical realism short inspired by the Brazilian folklore surrounding the passion fruit.

Facilitator: soJin Chun | Toronto

soJin Chun is a Toronto-based facilitator/artist/curator that explores the alternative dialogues that emerge in-between cultures and disciplines. With a focus on connecting with youth, community members, and artists, her work unpacks identities and narratives that exist outside of dominant representations. soJin’s diverse art practice has been informed by her personal experience living in the Korean diaspora in Bolivia and Canada while recognizing her colonized subjectivity as an English, Spanish and Portuguese speaker. Collaboration is an essential part of her process and she has worked extensively with the community of Horto Florestal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Through International artist residencies, soJin has developed a collaborative art practice working with local communities to resist stereotypes, gentrification and displacement. Chun has participated in international film festivals such as the Oberhausen International Film Festival (2020). She has exhibited Internationally in DIY art spaces, galleries and museums. In 2021, she participated in a group exhibition titled, Bop, Art & Labour at Alternative Artspace Ipo in Seoul, Korea. soJin’s video works are represented by GIV (Montreal), CFMDC (Toronto) and V-Tape (Toronto).

Chun has a B.A. in Applied Arts from Ryerson University and a Masters in Communications and Culture from Ryerson/York Universities. She is currently a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at the OCAD University in Toronto.

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