DOC Delegation to IDFA 2026
DOC is proud to bring 8 DOC members to the International Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) this November!
Supported by Global Affairs Canada, Telefilm, the Indigenous Screen Office, and the Black Screen Office, this delegation brings together eight emerging and mid-career filmmakers from DOC chapters across the country. The cohort will travel to Amsterdam to present their documentary projects to international industry decision-makers as part of a special delegation showcase.
DOC DELEGATION
Daniel Berish
Danny Berish is an award winning documentary film director dedicated to pushing the boundaries of traditional documentary storytelling and co-founder of Black Rhino Creative, a production company creating captivating film and TV series that showcases diverse voices. He was featured at Hot Docs in 2019 for a six-part Indigenous food and travel series entitled Red Chef Revival and again officially selected in 2021 for Nude to Me, which is currently airing on CBC Gem.
Danny directed episodes across four seasons of Postcards From:, a 6 x 22-minute travel series airing on AMI, exploring Canada through the lens of accessibility. Most recently, he co-directed the feature-length documentary Beauty Between the Lines, chronicling the life and work of one of the 20th century’s most captivating modernist architects, Arthur Erickson. The film aired on Knowledge Network in 2025, was an official selection and opening film at the Architecture & Design Film Festival in Toronto and Vancouver, and has since been distributed internationally.
Also on the slate, Danny will be producing a 3 x 60 minute documentary mini series Seeking Saltwater City for Knowledge Network and developing a feature length documentary on the father of freestyle skiing – Wayne Wong.
Past awards include a Leo Award for best direction, Yorktown Film Festival Golden Sheaf Award and Best Doc Series of the year by Doc Weekly.
Jamal Burger
Jamal Burger is an independent director and producer based in Toronto, Canada. Born and raised in the city, he first garnered attention for his documentary-style street photography. His images have appeared in several editorial and commercial spaces, and he has collaborated with brands globally.
That photographer’s eye carried into a body of short-form film work with a visual language that is gritty and experimental. His written-and-directed piece for BADBADNOTGOOD’s “Love Proceeding,” a black-and-white drama following two brothers through a summer day in downtown Toronto, was a finalist for the 2022 Prism Prize. Jamal has built his catalogue of self-produced short films, and attributes this experience to finding his voice.
From 2018 to 2023, Burger was co-founder and executive producer of the production company Tier Zero, leading commercial content for major brands. In 2025 he made his feature debut with Still Single, co-directed with Jukan Tateisi and produced by Rhombus Media and Common Good. The documentary offers an intimate look at Masaki Saito, Canada’s first two-Michelin-star chef, and premiered at TIFF before a cross-Canada theatrical run.
Brittany LeBorgne
BRITTANY LEBORGNE is a Kanien’kehá:ka actor and producer from Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory. She is best known for her acting role as Zoe on the award-winning series, Mohawk Girls. When she’s not in front of the camera, Brittany is behind the scenes as a producer, director, and writer. Her credits include APTN documentary series’ Dream Big, Working It Out Together (Season 3), That’s AWSM! (Season 2), and CBC’s digital documentary series, Thunderblanket. Brittany has been a part of the Rezolution Pictures team for over a decade, most recently as production manager on award-winning feature documentaries, Baie James 1975: le choc des nations (Historia/APTN), Red Fever (TVO/APTN), and documentary series, Gespe’gewa’gi: The Last Land, Season 3 (APTN).
Yasmine Majchrzak
Yasmine is a Newfoundland based producer whose journey into film started through her work as a wildlife ecologist, where she was involved in the making of several nature documentaries, helping crews capture unique footage of wild animals. Since then, she has worked in the production offices of multiple independent feature films and TV series for studios like Apple TV+ and Netflix. She has produced several short films that have played at international festivals and is currently in production on her feature documentary funded by Telefilm Canada titled Invasivore. Yasmine was selected for the 2026 JETS Initiative at Berlinale, and her feature script The Night Maere was chosen as the winning project out of Canada. She is an alumnus of the STOWE Story Lab producer program, and the CMPA producer mentorship program where she completed her internship at Sara Fost Pictures. Yasmine was also selected for the 2026 St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival Producer’s Cohort, and the 2026 DOC society delegation to the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.
Nic Meloney
Nic Meloney is a mixed Wolastoqi/Canadian journalist and independent filmmaker currently on an unpaid leave of absence from his career at the public broadcaster to direct his first feature documentary — an ambitious project about memory, familial love and the state of Indigenous archives and histories.
Nic has served as reporter/producer, advisor to CBC/Radio-Canada’s National Indigenous Office, co-author to CBC/Radio-Canada’s National Indigenous Strategy, commissioner of Indigenous documentary and factual programming, and has been instrumental in delivering on the public broadcaster’s commitments to the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Nic’s best work and expertise is in the field of narrative sovereignty, visual storytelling, and documentary research and writing.
Shaping and telling stories for over a decade, Nic has produced radio, television and digital news content of all lengths, feature docs, limited documentary series and live television events. His work has allowed him to build relationships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis producers from Indigenous territories across the globe.
Nic hails from Cape Breton Island (NS) and Woodstock First Nation (NB) but currently lives and works from Toronto.
Kamala Parel-Nuttall
Kamala Parel-Nuttall is a Calgary-based documentary director/producer and founder of Floating Lotus Films. Her work explores identity, belonging, and cultural legacy. Her short documentary The Gateway screened at festivals across North America and won Best Canadian Documentary at the 2024 Vancouver International ShortFest. She also produced the feature documentary Women of No Nation, supported by Telefilm Canada’s Talent to Watch program.
Kamala is currently developing Blue Collar, a feature documentary that follows Dalit artist Sudheer Rajbhar as he sets out to challenge caste and the elitism of luxury fashion by staging a fashion show in Mumbai’s busiest railway station. His models are platform shoeshiners, dressed in designs he makes from upcycled rubber. Before turning to filmmaking, Kamala worked in academia. She holds a BA in Religious Studies from McGill University and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Commonwealth Scholar.
Ziad Touma
Ziad Touma is an award-winning producer, director and writer working in film, series and interactive media, both in fiction and documentary. Through his production company Couzin Films, Ziad produced nine features, including the two documentaries Made to Walk (2026) by Vali Fugulin (Rabat, RVQC) and City Dreamers (2019) by Joseph Hillel (RIDM, FIFA, DOXA, AFFR).
He recently produced the interactive VR documentary experience TRACES: The Grief Processor (2025) by Vali Fugulin (SXSW, BIFAN, Games for Change, ACT).
Ziad is currently producing the feature doc Whispers of Ayiti, written by Cindy Charles and director Stefan Verna, about reclaiming the underground Haitian cinema wave made in Quebec’s diaspora in the 90’s.
Laurie Townshend
Laurie Townshend is a writer, director, and former educator who believes that before we shape stories, stories shape us. Her award-winning debut feature, A Mother Apart (2024) follows poet-activist Staceyann Chin on a journey of healing and radical mothering. The film earned Laurie the DGC Allan King Award for Best Direction in a Canadian Documentary, a GLAAD Media Award nomination, a slot on PBS/POV’s 38th season, and has screened at more than 20 festivals, including Hot Docs, BlackStar, DOC NYC, BFI Flare, and Frameline. A recipient of the 2025 Chicken & Egg Films Development Grant supported by Netflix, Laurie is now in production on TALLAWAH: a coming-of-age documentary about young women basketball players in Jamaica chasing improbable hoop dreams and daring to imagine their futures on and off the court.
This delegation is supported by a contribution from Global Affairs Canada’s CanExport Associations program
