THE TEAM
SHANT JOSHI (he/him) - President
Shant Joshi is an award-winning producer and president of Fae Pictures, based in New York and Toronto, on a mission to decolonize Hollywood. His credits include award winners at Sundance (Framing Agnes), Red Sea (In Flames), Iris Prize (Scaring Women at Night), Durban (Runs in the Family), premieres at Cannes, Venice (The Curfew), Toronto, Canneseries (Streams Flow From A River), Aspen (I Live Here), Palm Springs (Diaspora), Hot Docs, Black Star (Noor and Layla), Bentonville, and BFI London, and nominees for the Canadian Screen Awards (Queen Tut). He was also an executive producer on Nisha Pahuja’s Academy Award ® nominated film To Kill A Tiger, an impact producer on John Greyson’s TEDDY Award-winning film International Dawn Chorus Day, and an associate producer on Ingrid Veninger’s Canadian Screen Award-nominated film Porcupine Lake.
Shant currently sits on the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) Regulatory Committee and was previously Co-Chair of the BIPOC TV & Film Board, on the CMPA EDI committee, and co-founder of the Future of Film Showcase.
He is an alum of the Canadian Film Centre, Rotterdam Lab, and Osgoode Hall Law School, and was named a MIPTV Producer to Watch, Reelworld Trailblazer, nominated for an Indiescreen Award, and to York University’s Top 30 Changemakers under 30.
LINDSAY BLAIR GOELDNER (she/her) - Vice-President of Production
Lindsay Blair Goeldner is an award-winning film producer and the director of production at Fae Pictures, a media production company on a mission to decolonize Hollywood. Originally hailing from Toronto, she splits her time between her hometown and New York City.
Lindsay began her producing career in the commercial world and pivoted to narrative after being admitted to the Canadian Film Centre's prestigious Producer Lab in 2019. Since then she has produced and overseen production on many notable and groundbreaking projects ranging from short films to feature films and episodic work. Some of those projects include short films Diaspora (2022, CBC Gem, Vimeo Staff Pick), Scaring Women at Night (2022, Iris Prize Winner, Vimeo Staff Pick); feature films such as Learn to Swim (2022, Netflix US), Going In (2023, Tubi, Apple), Queen Tut (2023, Crave, CBC), I Like Movies (2023, Netflix Canada) which was selected as one of Canada's Top Ten films of 2022; and the series Streams Flow from a River (2023, Canneseries, Prime Video), which has been renewed for a second season. Through her work, Lindsay aims to elevate emerging and underrepresented talent which continues to be a defining and driving force in her career.
She is currently spearheading the New York office for Fae Pictures and is expanding her slate with several co-production projects on the horizon while working as an independent line producer for hire. When she's not on set or at a karaoke night, you can find her talking about movies on TikTok.
ABDUL MALIK (he/him) - Vice-President of Development
Abdul Malik, a WGC screenwriter and award-winning journalist based out of Toronto and Edmonton, hails from a family of Pakistani immigrants and is a 2022 CFC Bell Media Prime Time TV Program graduate. He dropped out of film school to pursue politics, spending his twenties working in the labour movement, participating in worker struggles across Canada as an organizer and photojournalist. Abdul returned to the film industry, starting as the co-writer of the Telefilm-funded Peace by Chocolate, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Abdul’s been in writers’ rooms on shows such as CTV’s Transplant, Corus/NBC's Departure , and was a supervising producer on CBC/Lark Production’s procedural, Allegiance . He also penned the Telefilm-funded feature Queen Tut. He served as Executive Producer/Showrunner on season two of the Super Channel digital series Streams Flow from a River, which was selected for the 2023 Canneseries Program.
Abdul is also a celebrated photographer who was awarded the 2019 Banff Centre for the Arts photography residency. The combination of his screenwriting, journalism, and visual storytelling has helped Abdul advance his career, which includes a variety of original projects in development with various production companies. Abdul is also a guest facilitator with the non-profit organization, Reel Canada, which introduces youth to Canadian film and engages them in conversations about identity and culture.
LISA VALENCIA-SVENSSON (she/her) - Vice-President of Finance
Lisa is an Emmy award winning and Academy Award shortlisted producer, VP of Finance at Fae Pictures, and consultant for the Documentary Organization of Canada’s Business Concierge program. She was previously the Managing Director of the Racial Equity Media Collective and the Acting Industry Programs Director at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. Before that she was Head of Operations at Multitude Films. Credits include IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL, PRAY AWAY, ALWAYS IN SEASON, CALL HER GANDA, HERMAN’S HOUSE, MIGRANT DREAMS and THE WORLD BEFORE HER.
LEONARD CHAN (he/him) - Director of Development
Leonard Chan is a writer/comedian from Toronto, Canada. As a comedian, he has been heard on Sirius/XM radio and seen on television at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, the Halifax Comedy Festival, StandUp NBC in New York, and the prestigious Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. As a writer, he’s worked on shows such as the international hit Kim’s Convenience, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, 16 Hudson, Hello (Again) and Streams Flow From A River.He also has two degrees in engineering which he uses only as punchlines and a totally legal number of cats.
ZAARIN BUSHRA (she/her) - Director of Marketing
Zaarin Bushra is an award-winning actor, and filmmaker from Toronto. She is known for her role in White Elephant (CBC Gem), which earned her the Standout Actress in a Feature Film at the Reelworld Film Festival 2020 and received great acclaim at Canadian Film Fest 2021. Zaarin was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh and is of Bengali descent. She has a wide range of experiences in directing, producing, program development, coordinating, and marketing. She is working to broaden her experience as an actor/filmmaker while working on initiatives that strive to tangibly implement equitable practices for BIPOC creatives both on-screen, behind the camera, and in the production process.
MELISSA AFFRUNTI (She/her) - Coordinator
Completing her BFA in Film Production at York University in 2022, Melissa Affrunti is a Filmmaker, Production Manager and aspiring Producer. Throughout her undergraduate degree, she has explored directing documentary as well as production managing different narrative shorts. Most notably, her third year thesis film “Talks of Faith” received nomination for Best documentary at York University's CineSiege.
Before finishing her degree, Melissa completed her field placement at Fae Pictures, which led to her becoming the Administrative Assistant at the company. Through her time at the company, she has taken part in productions such as Streams Flow from a River, and landed her first credit as Producer’s Assistant on Queen Tut. Other than that, she has contributed to many narrative shorts in roles such as production manager, production designer and casting.
Constantly working at collaborating with others to bring new projects into fruition, Melissa is excited to continue learning and growing through her role as Coordinator with Fae Pictures.