Trista DeVries, Editor-in-Chief
Coming from a theatre background and working in a 9 to 5 environment for many years, she brings a passionate love of film to her work at TFS. Trista loves all film, horror and sci-fi in particular, but never shies away from an opportunity for a film experience.
Pam Fossen, Associate Editor
Obsessed with watching movies as far back as she can remember, Pam loves film enough to have two university degrees in the subject. When not focused on a movie screen, she can usually be found reading, cooking, touring vineyards, or planning where to spend her vacation time.
Sarah Gopaul, Contributing Editor
Sarah Gopaul is a film enthusiast that realized the power of cinema when she viewed 12 Angry Men as a pre-teen. However, finding her strength was in writing rather than filmmaking, she earned a Bachelor of Journalism from Ryerson University then a Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies at York University. Sarah combines her education and passion to write theatrical and home entertainment reviews, as well as the occasional feature and op-ed. She served as the Editor-in-Chief of Popjournalism, a national, online entertainment magazine, for two years before joining the TFS team. Sarah enjoys watching all movie genres, but has a particular fondness for horror, and her love for hockey is second only to her adoration for cinema She also has a graduate certificate in Public Relations from Humber College.
Bennett O’Brian, Contributor
Bennett O’Brian is a Toronto writer and cartoonist.
He is a graduate of York University in theatre arts where he served as political cartoonist to the campus newspaper, The Excalibur. He has produced a play at the Toronto Fringe Festival and written another which was performed in the Summerworks Festival. Ben is passionate about the cinema and has voted on over 1,100 titles on IMDb.com. He is presently working on an original graphic novel.
Carmen Albano, Contributor
Carmen Albano, a graduate of OCAD, turned his love of sculpting into a career in film and television. A Sci-Fi fanatic and super hero junkie, he loves to be on set as much as he loves being in the theatre. His reality is made up of things that are not real and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Dasha Kotova, Contributor
My name is Dasha. I love British humour, 80s movies, metal, Frank Zappa, and grandmotherly things, like tea and Scrabble. I was born in Moscow, and I have lived in Toronto for almost ten years.
Joseph Belanger, Contributor
Joseph Belanger is a Toronto-based film enthusiast who was born and bred in Montreal. He has been published in the National Post and on CBC Arts Online. He also writes a monthly column for The Movie Network website. He has been writing about film since 2005 on Black Sheep Reviews, a site he created and still writes for today. Joseph’s favorite film is “Annie Hall”, which coincidentally won the Oscar for Best Picture on his first birthday.
Jovana Jankovic, Contributor
Jovana is a graduate student in film and communications as well as a freelance writer and editor. She still can’t get over the fact that humans have invented a machine that records moving pictures. Outside of the cinema, her interests include cheese, wine, etymology, tennis, and board games.
Katarina Gligorijevic, Contributor
Katarina Gligorijevic is a Toronto based writer and major movie nerd whose work has appeared in two Coach House Books anthologies, Point of View magazine, Exclaim!, Twitch, and several other online and print publications. In addition to Toronto Film Scene, she contributes regularly to They Shoot Actors, Don’t They? and is currently working her first novel, a tale about abductions and communicating with pears. When she’s not writing, Katarina spends her days managing operations at REEL CANADA, a traveling festival dedicated to exposing young people to Canadian film. You can follow her on Twitter here.
Kelly Stewart, Contributor
Kelly is a graduate of both Animation and New Media Design. When he isn’t writing about some underrated film classic, Kelly is a painter and a graphic designer. You can find Kelly’s other writing at his blog, Cinema Masters.
Lara Zarum, Contributor
Lara is a fan of movies, TV, computer-based TV programming, YouTube and similar online platforms for popular internet memes, and other screen-oriented activities. She has a B.A. in English literature from U of T and has written for many excellent and prestigious publications, trust. She also writes a TV blog called Gaslight Edition. You should check it out.
Meaghan MacInnis, Contributor
Shane McNeil, Contributor
Shane McNeil is a cinematic robot programmed to like things that are awesome and hate anything associated with Nicholas Sparks. “He” loves the films of Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson and Akira Kurosawa. “He” has never cried in a movie because “he” was not programmed to do so, however, the ending of “It’s a Wonderful Life” causes one mysterious spark to fly off “his” motherboard. “His” auto-programmed cinematic diatribes have appeared online and in print for such outlets as Playback Magazine, Dose Magazine, Mondo Magazine, Zip.ca and now, finally, the Toronto Film Scene, which “he” promises “he” has not been programmed to destroy.
