#FIRSTLOOK: DEVERY JACOBS AND HUMBERLY GONZALEZ TO BE HONOURED AT FUTURE OF FILM SHOWCASE (FOFS) 2025 | PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS

Future of Film Showcase (FOFS), Canada’s premiere festival celebrating emerging Canadian Filmmakers, proudly celebrates its 12th year by honouring two of Canada’s brightest stars: Devery Jacobs and Humberly González. Jacobs, an award-winning actress, writer, director, and producer, will receive the festival’s inaugural Trailblazer Award for her groundbreaking work and advocacy in the industry. González, a dynamic Canadian-Venezuelan actress, is the recipient of the Rising Star Award, which recognizes artists who inspire and empower the next generation of filmmakers.

Taking place June 19-22, 2025, at the Paradise Theatre and other venues across Toronto, FOFS continues to spotlight Canada’s emerging talent with an exciting slate of feature and short film screenings, industry workshops, keynote and panel discussions, a director development incubator, after-parties, and more. Tickets to select programming are on-sale now at fofs.ca.

New in 2025, the Trailblazer Award honours inspirational figures who are making waves in the film industry while creating space for emerging filmmakers to follow. Recipients are selected based on artistic impact, innovation and meaningful contributions to equity and representation. Jacobs is best known for her starring role as “Elora Danan” in the Emmy-nominated series Reservation Dogs, for which she earned two Critics’ Choice Award nominations for Best Actress in a Comedy Series and a Gotham Award nomination for Outstanding Performance in a New Series. Other notable credits include Marvel’s Echo and What If…?, American Gods and Backspot. A proud voice from Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory, she uses her platform to advocate for Indigenous and LGBTQ2S+ communities.

The Rising Star Award celebrates filmmakers in the early stages of their careers who innovate, champion inclusive storytelling, and inspire the next generation of filmmakers. González stars in the upcoming Netflix series The Waterfront (premiering June 19) and reprises her role as “Sophie Sanchez” in Season 3 of Ginny & Georgia, launching June 5. She was nominated for 2025 BAFTA Game Award for Performer in a Leading Role for Star Wars Outlaws.

The Rising Star Award was introduced in 2024 and previously awarded to Sara Waisglass and Avan
Jogia. Jacobs and González will be honoured live on stage during the festival’s Closing Keynote
Conversation on Sunday, June 22 at 5:30pm at Paradise Theatre, with a livestream available on
FOFS’ Instagram @futurefilmshow.

PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS

Now in its 12th year, FOFS returns June 19-22, 2025 at the Paradise Theatre and other venues around
Toronto. Tickets are now available at fofs.ca.

2025 Feature Film Program

SPECIAL FEATURE PRESENTATION

Friday, June 20 at 8pm
Rien De Mal, Samuel Plante | Toronto | Drama | Toronto Premiere
After a shocking revelation turns Andrea’s life upside down and tests the bond with her younger
sister Claire, they embark together on a strange scavenger hunt – searching for hidden truths, and a
way back to each other. Based on true events. Trailer.

Short films preceding the feature presentation:

HAIR!, Sara Jade Alfaro | Oshawa | Comedy
A casual afternoon of ritualistic body hair removal between three witchy Iranian matriarchs unleashes a
classic Middle Eastern emotional purge, while marking the chaotic coming-of-age for twelve year old
Nora.

How To Bury Your Father, Ammar Keshodia | Toronto | Drama | World Premiere
A young man returns home and spends the night trying to fulfill his father’s dying wish for a proper Islamic burial.

CENTREPIECE FEATURE

Sunday, June 22 at 3pm
Cherub, Devin Shears | St. John’s | Drama | Toronto Premiere
A gentle character study of Harvey – a straight, fat man who decides to submit a photograph of himself to
a gay magazine for ‘big men and their admirers’.

Short film preceding the feature presentation:

Hello Stranger, Amélie Hardy | Montreal | Documentary
Between loads of laundry at the corner laundromat, Cooper shares the tumultuous story of her gender
reassignment journey.

CLOSING NIGHT FEATURE

Sunday, June 22 at 7:30pm
Fortescue, Rebecca Love | Toronto | Drama | Toronto Premiere
A quiet reflection on womanhood, psychosis and friendship, Fortescue begins capturing the whimsical
and platonic love that exists between two old friends, as they eat, tan and play on the sunny shores of an
old worldly summer cottage. When a boyfriend arrives on the scene, for them all to perform an age old
fairy tale for the neighbouring cottagers, one of the friends descends into a frightening trance, sharing the pains of living shackled to a dated ideal of womanhood.

Short film preceding the feature presentation:
Roots that Reach Toward the Sky, Jess X. Snow | Philadelphia | Drama
After her mother’s traditional Chinese medicine shop is vandalized, a young botanist draws on the
resilience of her local community and the healing remedies of her ancestors to contend with her deepest
anxieties. Snow was recently named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film.

SHORTS PROGRAMMING

OPENING NIGHT SHORTS PROGRAMME

Thursday, June 19 at 7:30 pm
MISSING, MJ Tremblay | Montreal | Experimental | World Premiere
Missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.
MJ Tremblay’s experimental short film Missing, about missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, will have its world premiere at Future of Film Showcase on Thursday, June 19, 2025.

Eid, Rame Ibrahim | Vancouver | Drama | Canadian Premiere
Two women are not able to visit their sons’ graves due to them being buried in different countries.
Inspired by the true story of Abdelaziz Ibrahim, an artist for the Palestinian Liberation Organization, who
was killed by an Israeli airstrike.

Avancer masque, Laurence Olivier | Vancouver | Documentary, Experimental | Ontario Premiere
On a freezing night, in an isolated village, masked figures prowl. The monsters lurk by the houses, knock
on doors. You let these strangers into your home. They remain silent. They observe you.

Aski, la mère de tous (Aski, The Mother of All), Amélie Courtois | Mashteuiatsh | Documentary |
Ontario Premiere
A poetic film inspired by nature and what it ofers us: colours and softness. A tribute to Mother Earth, this
film takes the time to look at the little details of the forest.

Things Behind the Sun, Giran Findlay | Toronto | Drama | Toronto Premiere
A week in the life of a teenage tennis player, struggling to balance practice with his home life as an
important tournament approaches.

Abgad Hawaz, Robin Riad | Toronto | Experimental
Robin Riad’s short hand-drawn analogue film ostensibly teaches the pronunciation of the Arabic alphabet
in 28 easy steps. In actuality, the hand-drawn letters were printed using a laser jet printer onto the optical
soundtrack of 16mm film, and what you hear in the film is the projector reading the letters, and
interpreting them into sound. Riad uses humour to play with and sit with her mother tongue, offering a
‘false’ lesson in pronunciation.

Greenhorn, Sabrina Way | Toronto | Drama
While at a dinner party with friends, 20-something masculine presenting Logan receives a phone call that
her estranged Father has been in a car accident. With encouragement from her Mother, Logan decides to
travel back to her rural hometown to care for him.

welima’q, Shalan Joudry | L’sitkuk – Bear River First Nation | Documentary
Witness a sweetgrass landscape on the shores of Mi’kma’ki. Between the salt water and forest line, a
family weaves themselves within these grasses. It is the sweet scent that draws them in, and ultimately
goes home with them. Still, this earth breathes and bends, continuing on after us.

One Day This Kid, Alexander Farah | Vancouver | Drama
One day this kid will feel something stir in his heart and throat and mouth. One day this kid will reach a
point where he senses a division that isn’t mathematical. One day this kid will talk.

Después del silencio, Matilde-Luna Perotti | Montreal | Documentary
A filmmaker returns to her grandmother after six years of silence to confront the family taboo: the sexual
assault she suffered.

The opening shorts program joins the previously announced short films HAIR! (Sara Jade Alfaro,
Oshawa, Comedy); How to Bury Your Father (Ammar Keshodia, Toronto, Drama, World Premiere);
Hello Stranger (Amélie Hardy, Montreal, Documentary) and Roots that Reach Toward the Sky (Jess X.
Snow, Philadelphia, Drama), which will screen as part of the feature film presentations.

ADDITIONAL 2025 FOFS PROGRAMMING

INDUSTRY PROGRAMMING
FOFS also presents an extensive lineup of industry programming that offers valuable development
opportunities through workshops, panel discussions and one-on-one mentorship, directed towards
fostering the future of emerging Canadian filmmakers. For industry programming and more information,
visit fofs.ca.

FOFS AWARDS
FOFS also presents seven awards to featured filmmakers in the Opening Night Shorts Programme: Best
Film, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Picture Editing, Best Director, Best Screenplay and
People’s Choice. Award winners are selected by the FOFS 2025 Jury, with the People’s Choice Award
determined by audience vote. The award-winning films will be announced on June 22 and will stream for
free across Canada on CBC Gem beginning June 24, 2025.

This year’s jury consists of: Jason Anderson (Lead Programmer for Canada, Toronto International Film
Festival), Carolyn Mauricette (Director of Canadian Programming, Fantasia International Film Festival),
Maxwell Paparella (Assistant Editor, Notebook, MUBI), Angelica Stirpe (Producer, BOLDLY), Jake
Burling (Production Executive, Elevation Pictures) and Antoine Bourges (Director, Fail to Appear).

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DIRECTOR DEVELOPMENT INCUBATOR

FOFS is pleased to present the second annual Director Development Incubator – a six-week
mentorship program for emerging filmmakers that culminates with a live pitch competition, co-presented by POV Film, on Saturday, June 21 at Archipelago Productions, 213 Sterling Rd.

This year’s six finalists – A.C. Birch (Bear Night), JoAnne Fishburn (Fish Boy), Gulzar (Skin to
Skin), Noor Gaith (One Way to Kurdistan), Michael Petruzzelli (It Comes in Waves), and Marlee
Sansom (Tell Me About My Mother) – will participate in weekly mentorship sessions with industry
professionals. They include workshops on how to direct actors, pitching, budgeting and financing,
framing, blocking + visual storytelling, and more.

At the end of the program, each filmmaker will pitch their short film production idea to a panel of
judges, followed by five minutes of constructive feedback. Judges will evaluate pitches based on
creativity and originality, strength of the proposed team, budget, timeline, potential impact, and
overall viability.

One filmmaker will be awarded a grand prize valued at $55,000 – including $5,000 in cash and
$50,000 in-kind services – to support the development of their short film. The winning project will also
be screened at a future FOFS Festival.

Future of Film Showcase can be found on Instagram, X and Facebook at @FutureFilmShow and FOFS2025.

Future of Film Showcase is supported by the Government of Canada, City of Toronto, Ontario Arts
Council, DGC Ontario, Shotdeck and the Indigenous Screen Office.

ABOUT FUTURE OF FILM SHOWCASE
The Future of Film Showcase (FOFS) is a Canadian not-for-profit media arts organization presenting
works from emerging Canadian Filmmakers, while at a crucial stage in their emergence as an artist
and storyteller, as well as elevating work by women, BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, and other emerging
creatives from traditionally marginalized communities. FOFS fosters the future of Canadian film by
providing burgeoning artists and filmmakers with professional development opportunities, as well as
a national platform through an annual film festival.

#FIRSTLOOK: OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR “BACKSPOT”

After making a splash on the Festival circuit, BACKSPOT arrives in theatres May 31, 2024 via levelFILM. Today, we get a new Trailer.

Director: D.W. Waterson
Screenplay: Joanne Sarazen
Executive Producers: Elliot Page, Matt Jordan Smith, J.C. Davidson, Katisha Shaw
Producers: Alona Metzer, D.W. Waterson, Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, Martin Katz

Cast: Devery Jacobs, Evan Rachel Wood, Shannyn Sossamon, Kudakwashe Rutendo, Thomas Antony Olajide and Wendy Crewson

Logline:A driven cheerleader (Devery Jacobs) struggles to handle the pressure when she and her girlfriend are both selected for an elite cheer squad, in D.W. Waterson’s feature directorial debut.

(Photo/video credit: levelFILM)

#INTERVIEW: DEVERY JACOBS & KATARINA ZIERVOGEL ON MARVEL’S “ECHO”

By Mr. Will Wong

Marvel‘s ECHO is an historic venture in that it is the first time they are telling a story focused on Indigenous and hearing-impaired characters. The five-episode Limited Series debuted earlier this week on Disney+, giving space for Maya Lopez‘s (Alaqua Cox) story to be told as part of Marvel’s SPOTLIGHT series, bringing more grounded, character-driven stories to the screen. The character was introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021’s Hawkeye, as the adopted daughter of Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio). In ECHO, we see her being pursued by his criminal empire.

The red carpet was rolled-out at TIFF Lightbox for a special imagineNATIVE screening of Marvel‘s ECHO. In attendance were Canada’s own Devery Jacobs who stars as Bonnie and Katarina Ziervogel, who plays Taloa.

Ziervogel tells us about her journey getting involved with ECHO via an American Sign Language interpretor.

Ziergvogel: I remember when the casting call went out for ECHO and they were looking for a dead individual in their 20s. I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to audition for this role because I’ve only acted in a few projects before. None had lines like this one would. So I decided to go for it and submitted my audition. Didn’t hear anything for six months, so automatically assumed I didn’t get it. I wound up getting a callback but again there was a three week waiting period, so assumed I didn’t get it. I finally got a call that the Director (Sydney Freeland) wanted to meet with me, and on the day if it wound up being cancelled. Yet again, thought I didn’t get it. It turns out that she didn’t want to meet with me and just wanted to offer me the role. I was so excited and never thought it could happen in my life. So to be in this Marvel production, this has been amazing. This is the best part.

Ziervogel also sheds some light how her character Taloa fits into Maya Lopez‘s world.

Ziervogel: Taloa is a deaf Indigenous woman. She fits into Maya‘s world because she’s both deaf and Indigenous. They decided to make Maya‘s mother deaf so that you can see the generational pass-down between them. You wanna see that she had a deaf family so that she wasn’t the only one in the family. Because we really wanted her to tie into that familial connection. So we wanted Maya to be able to live in both worlds, so that she has that deaf mother to look-up to and also her Indigenous family as well.

Canadian treasure Devery Jacobs has the distinction of having two separate roles in the MCU as Kahhori in What If…? and Bonnie in Echo. She tells us about what drew her to the role of Bonnie.

Jacobs: I actually had no idea what the character was going to entail. When the casting breakdown was originally listed, they had a fake name for her. Her name was Julie. They had some fabricated sides. My role was under lock and key. There was no Script. I didn’t know what I was auditioning for. I knew it was for ECHO and I saw that Sydney Freeland was at the helm and I had the chance to work with Sydney on Rutherford Falls, as well as Reservation Dogs before. So I knew it was going to be something special. And Sydney comes with such a distinct directorial voice. I sent in an audition and was able to connect with Sydney before the callback. She gave me a little bit of insight into the world. When auditioning I had to learn some ASL which I didn’t previously know before the project. The original reason I wanted to get onboard was because of Sydney.

Jacobs also tells us about reuniting with many of her Reservation Dogs castmates in ECHO and how that was different this go.

Jacobs: I come from Indie film. I am used to projects like BACKSPOT (Director D.W. Waterson came out to show support) which shot over 17 days as a low budget Indie-Canadian feature. But getting to go from Reservation Dogs where we shoot every episode over four or five days to working in the MCU – where we have all the resources at our disposal, incredible sets, beautiful cranes, unbelievable choreographed fight sequences – was really cool because it centered on Indigenous communities, specifically the Choctaw Nation.

I’m being spoiled right now and it’s never gonna happen again!

Watch our Chats here:

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All five episodes of ECHO stream now on Disney+.

(Photo/video credit: Disney+/Mr. Will Wong)

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR “ECHO”

No bad deed goes unpunished on Jan. 10, 2024, when Marvel Studios’ “Echo” launches on Disney+. Check out the all-new trailer and poster revealed this morning. The five-episode streaming event spotlights Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) as she is pursued by Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) criminal empire. When the journey brings her home, she must confront her own family and legacy. All five episodes will stream on Jan. 10. This marks the first Marvel Studios series to drop all entirely bingeable episodes at once.

“Echo” also stars Chaske Spencer (“Wild Indian,” “The English”), Graham Greene (“1883,” “Goliath”), Tantoo Cardinal (“Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Stumptown”), Devery Jacobs (FX’s “Reservation Dogs,” “American Gods”), Zahn McClarnon (“Dark Winds,” FX’s “Reservation Dogs”), Cody Lightning (“Hey, Viktor!” “Four Sheets to the Wind”) and Vincent D’Onofrio (“Hawkeye,” “Godfather of Harlem”).

Episodes of the series are directed by Sydney Freeland (Navajo) and Catriona McKenzie (Gunaikurnai). Executive producers are Kevin Feige, Stephen Broussard, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Victoria Alonso, Richie Palmer, Jason Gavin (Blackfeet), Marion Dayre and Sydney Freeland. Co-executive producers are Jennifer L. Booth and Amy Rardin.

#TIFF23: “BACKSPOT” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

Cheerleaders Riley (Devery Jacobs) and her girlfriend Amanda (Kudakwashe Rutendo, TIFF Rising Star ’23 and Share Her Journey Fellow) have just been selected to be part of an elite cheer squad. With a major competition coming up – not to mention needing to impress ice cold head coach Eileen (Evan Rachel Wood) – there is no room for either of them to mess up this opportunity. And Riley is starting to buckle under that pressure.

I am not a gymnast, nor have I ever tried to be. Thankfully, that does not matter because Director D.W. Waterson (in their feature-length debut) does everything they can to make it so that you feel all of the pain, excitement and fear Riley feels from start to finish. The camera is always moving, taking in Riley’s experiences, amd honing in frequently on shots utilizing a Go-Pro to really embed deep into her psyche. When she starts having a panic attack, you feel it with her. When she starts pulling out her eyebrow hairs, you feel it with her. It is frequently disorientating and intense, but that is deliberate. Waterson is not so much making BACKSPOT into a film so much as they are making a visceral experience.

Jacobs is revelatory here, excelling equally at the physical and emotional elements of her character. She dives fearlessly into every moment, with the extreme close-ups on her face brilliantly depicting the toil this training is having on her. Her innocent, intimate connection with Rutendo is terrific, as are the standard coming-of-age tropes Riley finds herself falling into. Where the Film falters is in what is happening in the background of Riley’s home life, and more specifically her school work. We only get to see fragments of it or nothing at all, with everything that is not just gymnastics (including Shannyn Sossamon’s thankless performance as Riley’s Mom) kind of fading into the background. The number of scenes taking place at Cineplex Mississauga gave me a giggle though.

All of that said, Wood is the Film’s not-so secret weapon. She relishes at playing such a fiendish and nasty character. But when Riley and Amanda refer to her as middle-aged, despite being in her mid-30s? That innocuous, throwaway of a line hit me square in the gut. I am not sure I will ever forget it.

BACKSPOT screens at TIFF’ 23:

Friday, September 8 at 8:30 PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox

Monday, September 11 at 3:00 PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox

Friday, September 15 at 9:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

#SPOTTED: JADE HASSOUNÉ, DOMINIQUE PROVOST-CHALKLEY, FRED VANVLEET, DANNY GREEN, WILL KEMP + MORE AT CANADIAN PREMIERE OF “AVENGERS: ENDGAME”

The purple carpet was rolled out for the Canadian Premiere of AVENGERS: ENDGAME at Scotiabank Centre. The fourth and final film in the Avengers franchise and 22nd film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is projected to smash Box Office records this weekend in its debut, already earning $107 million worldwide before its release. It takes place after the destructive events that take place in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR after Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) snap of a finger which leads to half the living being wiped-out. We see the band of surviving superheroes come together to undo the destruction, including Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper). For the first time ever, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) appears in the Avengers franchise.

This tour-de-force finale from Joe and Anthony Russo would have made Marvel mastermind Stan Lee proud. It runs high on action and emotion and cannot be missed, even if you have missed some installments of the MCU!

 

See the Trailer:

 

What would you have done to be at the World Premiere of #AvengersEndgame? pic.twitter.com/EHs8OcCqCa

— MR. WILL WONG 📸 (@mrwillw) April 24, 2019

 

While the World Premiere in Los Angeles earlier this week brought out the Cast, including faces of present and past in the MCU, Toronto had some familiar faces come out to support the affair including two Toronto Raptors riding the high of their victory Tuesday night, landing them second in the Eastern Conference, Fred Vanvleet and Danny Green. Wynonna Earp star Dominique Provost-Chalkley who starred in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, Director Jonathan Wright, Youtube stars Epic Meal Time, Jade Hassouné, star of popular series SHADOWHUNTERS, Holmes and Holmes’ Mike Holmes Jr., Lost Girl star Kris Holden-Ried, American Gods star Devery Jacobs and Will Kemp who is filming Netflix figure skating series SPINNING OUT currently in the City.

 

See some Snaps from the night:

 

Fred VanVleet 

Danny Green 

Jade Hassouné 

Epic Meal Time 

Ed Robertson (Barenaked Ladies) 

Will Kemp x Jonathan Wright
 
Mike Holmes Jr.
 
Kris Holden-Ried

 

Devery Jacobs

 

Dominique Provost-Chalkley

 

Marvel Entertainment Canada release AVENGERS: ENDGAME Friday, April 26, 2019.

 

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong/Marvel Entertainment Canada)