VIFF Welcomes Matt Shakman & Joi McMillon To Upcoming Creator Talks Lineup

The Vancouver International Film Festival will end the month of May with two online Creator Talks as part of its year-round VIFF Talks program - a platform for creators and innovators to share expertise on their craft.

On May 25, 1:30pm PDT, WandaVision Director Matt Shakman will discuss mining television classics, structuring this ambitious series, and his directorial approach to the finale.

On May 27, 6pm PDT, Oscar-nominated Joi McMillon gives an insider's perspective on how a story takes its final shape in the editing room, the importance of the female lens, and her collaborations with Barry Jenkins, including their upcoming Amazon limited series The Underground Railroad.

Both Creator Talks are free (registration required) and will be live-streamed on VIFF Connect, available across Canada and internationally, providing access to filmmakers and fans everywhere.

More details on each of the Creator Talks are available below.

VIFF is thrilled to host Matt Shakman for a behind-the-scenes discussion on the world's most in-demand TV show of early 2021, Marvel Studios' WandaVision, starring Elizabeth Olson and Paul Bettany. With Season One having wrapped in March, Shakman will discuss mining television classics, structuring this ambitious series, and his directorial approach to the finale.

Prior to directing and producing, WandaVision, Matt Shakman (Director/Executive Producer) previously wrapped The Great, for which he received an Emmy® nomination for outstanding directing for a comedy series and directed an episode for the second season of HBO's Succession. His two episodes from season seven of Game of Thrones, The Spoils of War (DGA nomination) and Eastwatch, received some of the best reviews of the entire series. Last year, Shakman directed episodes of The Boys and Billions. Shakman's directorial credits also include the feature film Cut Bank, as well as many episodes of TV's best shows including Mad Men, The Good Wife, and the season one finale of Fargo. Shakman also served as the series director and executive producer on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He was tapped to adapt his iconic episode The Nightman Cometh for the stage which resulted in a sold-out national tour. Shakman is also the artistic director of The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.

Creator Talk host: Warren P. Sonoda, National President of Directors Guild of Canada and BAFTA-winning, Emmy-nominated filmmaker

VIFF is honoured to host acclaimed film editor Joi McMillon for a Creator Talk. The highly-anticipated new limited series The Underground Railroad from Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins, was edited by McMillon and premieres on May 14 on Amazon Prime Video. Hear from McMillon as she offers an insider's perspective on how a story takes its final shape in the editing room, the importance of the female lens, and her collaborations with Barry Jenkins.

Joi McMillon is an award-winning editor best known for her work on Barry Jenkins' critically acclaimed film Moonlight, the Best Picture winner at the 89th Academy Awards. McMillon's work on the feature solidified her place in history as the first black female nominated for an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Film Editing. McMillon led the editorial department on The Underground Railroad, Jenkins' limited series adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel for Amazon Studios. Currently, she serves as the editor of Disney's upcoming Untitled Lion King Prequel, which marks her fifth collaboration with Jenkins since 2016. Recently, McMillon cut the highly anticipated, Twitter-thread based feature Zola, working alongside filmmaker Janicza.

Creator Talk host: Karen Lam, Writer/Director, The Curse of Willow Song

This is a free event, registration required at http://goviff.org/ct-railroad.

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