I’m really excited to begin introducing our jury members this year. It’s such a joy to be able to connect with other film professionals to share and reward the great work of our filmmakers. I’m proud to introduce you to the fine group of people who will be judging our narrative short films this year:
Steve Gravestock
Steve Gravestock worked at the Toronto International Film Festival from 1995 to 2023 in various capacities. From 2000 on, he worked in TIFF’s programming department. He is best known for programming Canadian and Nordic films at TIFF since the early 2000s. He authored two books (Don Owen: A Portrait of a Filmmaker and his Culture and A History of Icelandic Film) as well as contributing to and co-editing (with Kate Lawrie) Geoff Pevere’s oft reprinted Toronto on Film. In 2023, he received the TFCA’s Company 3 Luminary Award.
Nicole McControversy
Nicole has been an organizer of the Boston Underground Film Festival since 2008, currently presiding over New England’s gonzo genre celebration as Director of Programming. She also proudly serves Angelino cinephiles on the programming team for Beyond Fest and is currently cutting her teeth in sales at Yellow Veil Pictures. Previously, she programmed for Monster Fest in Melbourne and the Boston Latino International Film Festival. Once upon a time she covered arts and entertainment for The Hollywood Reporter, The Boston Phoenix, and Boston.com.
John Trefry
John Trefry is a writer/producer with extensive narrative and documentary credits, whose work has competed at over a hundred festivals around the world including SXSW, Tribeca and Raindance. John has a unique skill set as both an award-winning creative and successful entrepreneur, with a proven track record of distributing content to global audiences with partners like HBO.
John’s narrative credits include Souls of Totality starring Tatiana Maslany (She-Hulk), How To Be Alone starring Joe Keery (Stranger Things) and Maika Monroe (It Follows) and 5150 starring Jovan Adepo (Watchmen) and executive produced by David Oyelowo (Selma).