Making Movies in Kamloops Panel

PANELISTS

Terri Hadwin

Terri Hadwin is a community leader with a wealth of knowledge of the Kamloops and Thompson-Nicola Region area. She was born in Kelowna, but moved to Kamloops in her early teens, graduating from Brocklehurst Secondary before moving to the west coast, and returning back to the BC Interior years later. Her earlier career path included Early Childhood Education, where she was a pre-school teacher for a brief period of time, then found her passion working in tourism, the arts and non-profit work. She pursued her graduate degree in Tourism Management through Royal Roads University. Since moving to the area, and for the last decade, she has been an advocate for destination development and community growth within the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.

Currently, Terri works for the TNRD as the Film Commissioner, she volunteers as a Board Member for Chimera Theatre and President for Volunteer Kamloops. Previous volunteer and Board engagement include BC Alliance for Arts and Culture, Big Sisters, Scouts, Historic Hat Creek Ranch, Thompson Nicola Film Commission, BC Geocaching Association and New Pathways to Gold. Giving back to  community is a driving force for her volunteer work.

Terri’s favourite pastimes are reading, watching movies, and attending art exhibits/concerts/theatre performances. Hiking with her husband and dog is also a favourite way to spend her weekends. Her top three favourite movies are: Mermaids, The Truman Show and Rocky.

Vesta Giles

Vesta Giles is the owner of Kamloops-based production company, Vandelso Productions, Inc. Vesta is a writer, director, and producer of a variety of award winning and nominated projects including the  documentary, The Dirt Chix: Making Time, the music video Take Down These Walls, the short film, When I’m Dead, and numerous commercial projects. As a screenwriter, she wrote Daughter For Sale (Odyssey Media Inc.), a MOW that aired on the Lifetime Network in 2017 and she was a runner up in the in the From Our Dark Side writing competition sponsored by WIFTV for her web series proposal, “The Gentleman’s Guide to Practical Pathology”. Take Me Home, the pilot episode for “Allegory” – a series she hopes to bring to the screen in the future, won the web series category in the People’s Pilot writing competition.

Vesta won a Telus Banff fellowship in 2018 and was named to the 2021 cohort of the Banff Spark program for Women in Media. Vesta is currently working on The Test – a documentary about the FireSmart program and the 2021 Tremont Creek wildfire that threatened the town of Logan Lake.

Cjay Boisclair

Cjay Boisclair is an award-winning filmmaker from Kamloops. First introduced to the film world when Power Rangers shot on location, she instantly fell in love with the industry, quickly moving into acting and  production. Her first two short films, The Bench and Stood Up, have garnered over 75 nominations and awards at 124 film festivals internationally. She is a proud Alumna of Women in the Director’s Chair, a recipient of the Banff Spark initiative and member of WIFTV. Currently, Cjay is producing a slate of Made for Television movies in Kamloops, several documentaries and her first feature film, Mary. She works alongside her husband and sons, helping to bring film alive in Kamloops.

Duane Boisclair

Duane Boisclair is the founder of Askem Talent and an award-winning filmmaker from Kamloops. After  witnessing the need for local representation for actors and background, he started Askem Talent, a full service agency based in Kamloops. As an agent, Duane and his team represent actors in film/television and new media all across BC and specialize in the Interior/Okanagan scene.

As a filmmaker he specializes in producing documentaries and supports productions in many ways including as a Health and Safety Officer, Set Carpenter and general fixer. You can spot his handiwork in the recently released Christmas Alone Together, Listening to Love, and Love and Where to Find it. Currently, Duane is producing a slate of documentaries and is working alongside his wife and sons, helping to bring film alive in Kamloops.

Ken Hegan

Ken Hegan was born & raised in Kamloops, graduated from Norkam, and grew up in Brocklehurst. Now a marketing/content writer & filmmaker, Ken directed his debut feature film, the action-comedy Outrunners, in Kamloops and wrote the screenplay in Brocklehurst at the start of the pandemic. His team filmed Outrunners in / around Kamloops in September 2020. The following year, Ken was the Thompson-Nicola Regional Library’s first-ever Screenwriter in Residence – during his residency, Ken wrote a crucial rewrite of his Outrunners script and filmed a handful of new shots.

Ken has writing/producing credits on 20 TV shows broadcast on CTV, TSN, Discovery, CBC, and CNBC. Thanks to his Rolling Stone articles on sports mascots, he was hired to co-write the Opening Essay for the Vancouver Winter Olympics (narrated by Donald Sutherland) with 13 million viewers on CTV and TSN. Ken has written/directed 11 short films that have screened at 100+ festivals and on The Comedy Network. He has tens and tens of fans.

Shawn ‘Major’ Major 

Major is a Vancouver-based Producer & Production designer. He has produced/co-produced five feature films: Daughter, Box of Freedom, Time Helmet, This Island, and Outrunners. As Production Designer for feature films, Hallmark TV shows and YouTube sensations like Bucketheads, Major designs film sets, mood boards, and leads a team to make films look amazing. He has been nominated, and won multiple awards around the world. His many years experience coming up from Set Dresser, to Set Decorator on IATSE shows and Hallmark, as well as Art Director for both film and TV have taught Major all aspects of the art  department and allowed him to succeed in many genres.