Join award winning independent filmmaker Selwyn Jacob in conversation with Kenyan-Canadian writer, director and producer, Jamila Pomeroy on Black and African narratives in Canadian film at the gallery.

Admission is by donation, courtesy of BMO Financial Group

For over three decades, award-winning filmmaker Selwyn Jacob has been telling stories about the lives and experiences of Black Canadians, Indigenous peoples, and other often underrepresented communities. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Jacob came to Canada in 1968. He holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta (1970) and an MSc in Film Education from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (1975).

As an independent filmmaker he directed We Remember Amber Valley (1984), about the Black community that existed near Lac La Biche, AB; Carol’s Mirror (NFB - 1991) which won six international awards; and Gemini award-winning The Road Taken (1996), about the Black sleeping car porters of the Canadian railroad.

At the NFB, Jacob produced a wide range of documentaries including Charles Officer's Leo- and Emmy-award-winning Mighty Jerome (2010), and Mina Shum’s feature documentary Ninth Floor, about the Sir George Williams Riot of 1969, which was selected as one of TIFF’s 2015 annual Top Ten list of best Canadian Films. Jacob retired from the NFB in June, 2019, and his last production was Now Is The Time, (Sundance 2020) directed by Haida filmmaker, Christopher Auchter. He is currently developing Laura Marsden’s first feature, Mama D’Lo, to be filmed in Trinidad in 2023. Among his numerous recognitions, Jacob received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Vancouver Film Critics Circle in 2020, and was recently selected as one off the Black Screen Office Cannes Delegates of 2023.

Jamila Pomeroy is a Kenyan-Canadian writer, director, producer and actor and a WGC screenwriter and TWUC internationally-published writer with over eight-years experience; spanning print, new media and film. She also works as a director and producer on both factual and scripted film and television. She has worked with over 20 globally-recognized outlets, namely, BBC, CBC, Red Bull Media, Hypebae, Network Entertainment and many more.

After branching out into film and television in 2018, Jamila worked in the writers room of Beauty, a series hosted by Tyra Banks, with award-winning Executive Producer Derik Murray and Primetime Emmy-nominated Director and Showrunner Annetta Marion. She then went on to write, direct, producer and star in the CBC mini series A Happier Planet. Shortly after, she received funding to direct the pilot of Sunflower Lemonade, a series she wrote, which is slated to be the first African-Canadian dramedy series in history. In 2022 she received funding from the Canadian Media Fund and Telus Originals to write and direct her first feature-length film, Union Street, which will be released sometime in 2023.

Jamila is currently working in development with her production company, RUCKUS Machine Pictures on a handful of projects including rom-com feature, Consciously Disengaged; dramedy, The Last Kugushi; and a biopic about Ruth Lowe—the female composer behind Frank Sinatra’s rise to fame. As an actor, model and TV personality, Jamila has worked with notable brands like Cadillac, Lululemon, Arc’teryx, Kit & Ace, Sephora, Laneige and many more. In addition to print and commercial work, she has appeared on networks such as CBC, Global and CTV, as well as international commercial campaigns.