We specialize in creative non-fiction storytelling for the cultural and media sectors. On multiple platforms, and in collaboration with leading subject matter experts, we commemorate the diverse stories that make Canada unique. We’re passionate about developing inventive ways to communicate real stories.

Black and white portrait of a man smiling, wearing a dark jacket, with textured hair, set against a black background.

Meet the Team

  • Principal + Creative Director

    Ryan is a creative producer and writer. For more than a decade, he has created thousands of minutes of bilingual video and podcast programming for the cultural sector. His work has been installed in museums, featured on CTV, CBC television and radio, in The Globe & Mail, National Post, Canada’s History, Canadian Geographic and dozens of other publications. Ryan is also the producer and host of the podcast series Once Upon a Time in Hollywood North. He is also the author of two books The Raftsmen (Firefly Books 2017 | Éditions Glénat 2021) and Buster: A Life in Pictures (2023).

  • Producer

    Sonia is a filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist. In 2021, she earned accolades from festivals in North America and Europe for her film Face à ma fenêtre, which included the theme prize, Make Your Life a Masterpiece, at the 2021 Asolo Art Film Festival. The film most recently screened at the 50th annual Dance on Camera Festival (NYC), co-presented by Film at Lincoln Center. Her installation work has shown at Come Up to My Room, Myseum of Toronto’s Intersections festival and dance: made in canada/fait au Canada. Sonia also has a distinguished decade-long career as a Set Designer, which includes Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak (2015), nominated for the Art Directors Guild Excellence in Design Award (2016), and Sarah Polley’s Oscar winning Women Talking (2022).

Black and white portrait of an unidentified woman with long dark hair, wearing a sweater.

  • Producer

    Maia is an Ottawa-based oral historian, documentarian, and disaster researcher. She is passionate about storytelling, knowledge mobilization, arts-based research, and ethics. Maia has conceived and created several documentary and podcasts series, most recently working in collaboration with an advisory circle, academic consultants, and participants on The Story of a National Crime podcast. She holds a Bilingual Honours B.A. in History from Glendon College and an MA in Disaster and Emergency Management from Royal Roads University. In 2021, Maia received the Governor General’s Gold Medal at RRU for her Master’s thesis work.

Contributors

  • Writer | The Black Hum

    Nuruddin Qorane is a broadcast producer and storyteller who blends technical precision with deep narrative research. Drawing on nearly a decade of experience at the CBC, he bridges the gap between complex sound engineering and editorial craft, contributing to flagship programs like World Report and Front Burner. His work is defined by a commitment to accuracy and cultural sensitivity, particularly through a specialized focus on Black Canadian history and archival storytelling. Fluent in English and Somali, Nuruddin uses his background in journalism to explore the intersections of identity and current affairs.  

Black and white portrait of woman with nose ring and long hair, looking upwards.

  • Host | Among Equals + Entre égaux

    Soleil is a multidisciplinary artist and director, they combine performance art, movement, theatre and song, intertwining the notion of the two-spirited body with experimental audiovisuals while drawing inspiration from the cosmogony and sacred spirit of the animals of the Innu world. Through performance, Launière expresses her reflections on silence and language, two important vectors of action art, both Indigenous and otherwise.

  • Education Consultant

    Dr. Sarafina Pagnotta is a Canadian war art historian and public historian who specializes in visual and material culture studies as they relate to war and conflict, how examples of Canadian war art (officially commissioned and otherwise) are described and catalogued in museums, galleries and archives in Canada, their connection to various Canadian nationalism(s), and cultural histories of the twentieth century. She has been an independent research consultant since 2017, and is the Rodger and Joann McLennan War Art Research Fellow at the National Gallery of Canada for 2025-2026. Pagnotta works with research clients such as local heritage organizations, non-profit charitable organizations, alongside national cultural institutions (such as the Canadian War Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, and Library and Archives Canada), media and podcast companies, academics and professional scholars working on their next book project, and individuals searching for their family military histories and building their family trees through genealogy research.

Smiling woman with curly hair in a bun, wearing a light blouse over a tank top.

  • Host/Writer | The Black Hum

    Cindy is a Haitian-Canadian award-winning actress, screenwriter and director based in Montreal. Her writing and directing credits include, Ainsi va mon bal, Interstellar Ella, and Sunny’s Quest. She is also the star of the TFO series Ainsi va Manu.

  • Writer | Rocket War

    Corporal William Patterson is an MA Candidate at the University of Canada, where he is focused on Canadian military history, industrial history, and environmental history. His thesis focuses on Canadian military supply chains.