Ruth Lawrence is a filmmaker based in St. John’s, NL. Ruth’s feature films include Little Orphans (Best Canadian Feature, Whistler Film Festival 2020), Hopeless Romantic (2018), and the comedy feature, Party Pirate, sold-out its opening Gala overnight at the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival in October 2023. Her documentaries A Lot of Love in the Room (2021) and Circus by Komatik (2019) have been featured on CBC Gem. She has directed, written, and/or produced on over 70 short films and webisodes. She’s writing two features, one with Sherry White and one with Emily Bridger.

Ruth’s honours include the Joan Orenstein Best Actress Award, the RBC Michelle Jackson Award for Emerging Filmmaker, the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council’s Artist of the Year, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, the YWCA Woman of Distinction, a WIFT-AT WAVE Award, the national Leslie Yeo Award for Volunteerism, and the inaugural Ross Leslie Award for her contributions to film and theatre.

Renée Hackett is an actor, writer, producer, and director. Her original short form TV series What Odds is currently on Bell Fibe TV. It won Best Web Series Pilot at the Berlin Women Cinema Festival and has received nominations for the Canadian Screen Awards, LA Independent Women Film Awards, and the Miami Web Fest. Her short film Some Saturdays was an Official Selection at the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Atlantic International Film Festival, Nickel Independent Film Festival – WINNER: Best Cinematography, Silver Wave Film Festival, and Smith Sound Film Festival.

Over her 30-year career she has appeared on stages across the country and in numerous television shows, including Hudson & Rex, Departure, Astrid & Lilly Save the World. She can currently be seen in The Missus Downstairs on Bell Fibe TV. 

She is an alumna of The National Screen Institute’s Business for Producers Program, Women in the Director’s Chair, back-to-back WIFT-Atlantic mentorship programs, The LA Emerging Producers Mission, and back-to-back PEI Screenwriter’s Bootcamps.