2012 Kodak New Vision Mentorship |  2012 Kodak New Vision Mentors

Simonee Chichester is an award-winning filmmaker. She has written, directed and produced fiction and documentary work for cinema, television and the web.

Simonee’s directorial debut, a feature-length documentary called Chichester’s Choice, premiered at Hot Docs to critical and audience acclaim. The film was also short-listed for the Lindalee Tracy Award and placed in the Hot Docs Audience Top 10. Chichester’s Choice has been screened at film festivals around the world, notably Sao Paulo’s Mostra and Rome’s Tertio Millennio, and televised internationally.

Simonee’s recent directing credits include Am I Beautiful, a 10-part documentary web series produced for World Vision Canada, My Guy, a narrative short film that premiered on CBC’s Canadian Reflections, and the Bravo!FACT film, Captivus, starring Gemini Award-winner Aidan Devine, which premiered at Toronto’s Inside Out Film Festival.

As one of Canada’s emerging talents, Simonee graduated from the Canadian Film Centre’s director’s lab in 2008. Previously, she trained at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles.  She has won multiple grants from the Ontario Arts Council, The Canada Council for the Arts and The Toronto Arts Council. As Program Director of Presenting Our Vision, she mentored marginalized youth in a weekly filmmaking and leadership program that empowered them to produce their first films.

Simonee has several projects in various phases of development and post-production. She’s actively working towards production of Merv, her original screenplay and winning entry for the 2012 WIFT-T Kodak New Vision Mentorship. Merv is a coming-of-age story about a man starting over at the age of fifty-nine. The film will be Simonee’s first narrative feature.

Simonee is an actor’s director and an auteur filmmaker who tells authentic, character-based stories. She draws on her own diverse cultural background and personal experience to capture ordinary life unfolding in meaningful ways.

About the Kodak New Vision Mentorship

Now in its eighth year, the national competitive Kodak New Vision Mentorship provides an eligible WIFT-T member with full registration to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the chance to prepare for the fest through one-on-one sessions with industry mentors.

In the lead-up to TIFF, Simonee will receive coaching and mentorship from Tamara Shannon,Vice President of Marketing at Entertainment One Films Canada, and internationally-acclaimed director/producer Ingrid Veninger (I am a good person/I am a bad person, Modra) to guide the business and creative development of Merv.

Presenting Partner