Crew

JASON BUXTON : Writer / Director

After studying film at Simon Fraser University, Jason Buxton has made three short films. His first short A FRESH START traveled internationally to numerous festivals, including the Toronto International and Clermont-Ferrand. THE GARDEN premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and THE DRAWING has played in over a dozen international festivals, and has recently been acquired by HBO. Jason lives in Nova Scotia, and BLACKBIRD will be his feature film debut.

THOM FITZGERALD : Executive Producer

Since his 1997 feature debut, Thom Fitzgerald has won over two dozen international awards including the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Award (Genie), The FIPRESCI European International Critics’ Prize, The Emerging Master Award at the Seattle International Film Festival, The Victory Column Reader’s Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, and the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Thom is a three-time premiere guest of the Sundance Film Festival, and has been lauded abroad at the Troia Film Festival in Portugal and Mar del Plat in Argentina. Thom was cited as “One of the top 100 filmmakers in the world” by Screen International and “One of the Top Ten of the Next Generation” by the Hollywood Reporter. Films include THE HANGING GARDEN, THE EVENT and 3 NEEDLES.

MARC ALMON : Producer

Marc Almon is a producer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He recently produced his first feature film, BLACKBIRD, directed by Jason Buxton and starring Connor Jessup (FALLING SKIES), Alexia Fast (HELEN, FIDO) and Michael Buie (THE NEXT THREE DAYS, MYSTERY, ALASKA). The short films he has written, directed or produced, including THE WAKE OF CALUM MACLEOD and D’UNE RIVE À L’AUTRE, have screened at over forty international film festivals, and have aired on CBC, Global, BBC, Bravo! and the Sundance Channel. Marc has been nominated for a Genie Award for Best Live Action Short Film, won the National Screen Institute Drama Prize, the Film Nova Scotia/CBC Bridge Award, the Linda Joy Busby Award, and was a finalist for TIFF’s Pitch This! competition. He also acted as Production Supervisor on the feature film 3 NEEDLES, starring Lucy Liu, Stockard Channing and Olympia Dukakis, and Production Co-ordinator on the Bravo! television series THE SINGULAR SERIES. He is a graduate of the University of King’s College and the Canadian Film Centre, and has three feature films and a web-series in development.

DAVID MILLER : Producer

David Miller is an internationally established producer, who has overseen independent productions both within Canada and abroad, under Poor Man’s Productions and his DRM Productions shingle company.

Miller has garnered numerous international awards and most recently received a 2009 Genie nomination for Best Motion Picture for the multi-award winning feature film AMAL (by Richie Mehta). The film has garnered more than twenty prestigious awards – ranging from Best Feature Film at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival to Best Feature at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles to the Audience Award at the AFI Dallas Film Festival.

Miller has currently just completed three feature films – KIVALINA (Ben Addelman), BILLY BATES (Julie Pacino, Jennifer Delia) and BLACKBIRD (Jason Buxton) – and in packaging on two others – MY FOOLISH HEART (Emmanuel Shirinian) and BERKSHIRE COUNTY (Audrey Cummings). Miller has also just wrapped production on Richie Mehta’s latest feature SIDHARTH, and is in development on a number of feature films that he is either producing or executive producing, including BASEBALLISSIMO (written by Jay Baruchel & Jesse Chabot), BROBOTS and Richie Mehta’s next feature film, which is currently untitled.

While in the early stages of his independent production career, Miller was the Director of Creative & Business Development at Channel Zero Inc. (home of Movieola—The Short Film Channel, Silver Screen Classics and Ouat Media Distribution) and wrote and produced the 18th Annual Gemini Awards (Night 1 and 2). Miller also worked in Public Relations for various organizations such as the National Film Board of Canada, the Academy of Canadian Cinema, and freelanced on various films. During his time at the NFB Miller achieved success leading the organization’s 2004 Oscar® campaign, where the NFB received their 67 and 68 Academy Award® nominations and an Oscar® for the film RYAN.

David Miller is a standing member of the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), sits on the CMPA Feature Film Committee and is the Hub for PRO (Producers’ Roundtable of Ontario). In addition, Miler is the President of a new production company A71 Productions Inc., and a partner in Agency 71 inc., a North American based marketing and branding company in Toronto, Canada.