THE CREATIVE TEAM

NANCE ACKERMAN
Director, Producer, Writer, DOP, Editor

Celebrated documentary photographer and filmmaker, Nance Ackerman has been making images around the world for over 30 years. Her work has been featured in Time, Newsweek, Canadian Geographic, and New York Times. In 2005 Ackerman turned her eye to directing, shooting and editing her own social documentary films, In the Quiet and the Dark (2023), Conviction, (2019, Doc Channel, NFB), Behind the Bhangra Boys (2019, CBC), Cottonland (2006, NFB) Four Feet Up (2009, NFB, TVO) and Little Thunder (2010, APTN, NFB). Her intimate and gritty style has won her numerous awards, but she is determined to continue making films that build bridges of understanding and shift perspectives.

Her own two children were born at home with a midwife, safely, despite her having gone into premature labour on the barricades at Oka (Kanasatake). She has had the honour of witnessing the birthing process, catching babies for women both at home and in the hospital. These experiences have propelled Nance into a lifetime of love of childbirth and respect for midwives who are responsible for saving not only her own child but thousands of lives around the world. 

Sergeo Kirby has been producing, directing and filming award-winning feature documentaries for over two decades. He is a founding member and President of Loaded Pictures, a Montreal film and television production company focusing on complex social documentaries. Sergeo’s work aims to share stories that promote social awareness and engagement, elevating marginalised voices, promoting forward-thinking, all from powerful first-person perspectives. His credits include: The Prophet of Ecstacy; The Forbidden Reel; ABU; The Death Tour; Shiners; Patsy; H2Oil; Roadsworth; Wal-Town; Fennario: The Good Fight and The Mosque.  His documentaries have been seen on TVO, CBC, documentary Channel, Canal D, Discovery, and the Sundance Channel, among others. ABU won the “Best Documentary” prize at over 14 film festivals and Shiners, released in the same year, won “Best Documentary” at 6 film festivals.The Forbidden Reel, a documentary shot in Afghanistan about the filmmakers of Kabul and their struggle to document a country in turmoil, opened at IDFA 2019 and also won the Hot Docs Audience Award in 2020.