NSI Storytellers faculty
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Liz Janzen
Liz Janzen is Director of Programming at the National Screen Institute and Festival Director for the NSI Online Short Film Festival. Previously Liz worked as a development manager for CTV, a programmer at Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting, and Manager of Acquisitions at WTN (W Network) where she also produced five seasons of the series Shameless Shorts. She was the Programming Coordinator for the Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival in 2002.
Liz began her career in Saskatoon where she produced, wrote and directed programs at the University of Saskatchewan. Subsequently she worked on short films and features in Winnipeg. She has an M.A. in English with a concentration in film from the University of Manitoba where she was awarded the Warhaft Memorial Award for her thesis on the films of Peter Greenaway.
Liz considers coffee a vital food group.
Joy Loewen
Joy has been with NSI since 2005. She manages NSI Drama Prize and the director phase of NSI Storytellers, and coordinated NSI Pitch Your Project 360! at the Banff World Television Festival in 2006 and 2007.
Joy has over 20 years of experience as a broadcaster, producer and trainer in the Canadian film and television industry.
She successfully contributed to the set-up and launch of WTN – the Women’s Television Network through establishing appropriate programming systems, reports and procedures for the distribution of the network’s programming material. Joy was acquisitions manager at WTN responsible for programming and scheduling movies, documentaries, lifestyle series and shorts. This role involved attendance at local and international program markets such as MIPTV in Cannes, France and Hot Docs in Toronto. Additionally, she produced several seasons of an international fashion show In Fashion.
Prior to NSI, Joy was an associate producer at CBC Television responsible for developing and producing regional programs. She was the publicist for Winnipeg’s inaugural Jewish Film Festival and Women’s Film Festival, re*VISIONS.
Joy is a proud alumna of Ryerson Polytechnic University and active volunteer in her community. She may also have the world's biggest collection of eye glasses.
Brandice Vivier-Burns
As Manager, Programs and Development, Brandice develops and delivers many of our
training programs. In addition to managing NSI Totally Television, she is
currently working with the NSI Online Film Festival and Featuring Aboriginal
Stories Program. Previous program of which she was part include NSI Drama Prize,
Storytellers, NSI Pitch to Win!, NSI Global Marketing, Telefilm Canada Spark
Plug and DiverseTV.
Brandice has worked in the film and television industry for 15 years. Prior
to NSI, she worked at CTV where she negotiated and drafted development and
license agreements for CTV, The Comedy Network, and the Discovery Channel, as
well as preparing compliance reports for the CRTC. She also worked in the
Canadian Dramatic Programming Department where she acted as the business
coordinator for independent producers on all Canadian dramatic programming
developed and licensed by CTV.
Brandice began her career at Manitoba Film
& Sound (now Manitoba Film & Music) where she worked in a number of
positions, starting as an administrative assistant, moving to the locations
program and finally working as a programs analyst.
In addition to being
an alumna of the University of Manitoba, Brandice has completed business law,
producer, multi media, marketing and french courses at various institutions
including the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Canadian Screen Training Centre,
University of Winnipeg, and La Collège Saint Boniface.
Finally, Brandice
is a cheese connoisseur – the more aromatic the better!