Writer/Director Gary Burns combines a wry sense of humour with an observational style to craft his films. Within the last six years Burns has created three distinct feature projects.

Gary's first feature, The Suburbanators, (87 min. colour, 1995) was a critical success at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival. The Toronto film critics placed The Suburbanators in the top ten Canadian films of 1996 as well as naming Gary in the top ten of both directors and screenwriters in Canada. Mondo Canuck (Prentice-Hall 1996) placed The Suburbanators on its list of "English Canada's Coolest Movies," calling Gary's debut feature "the most promising first feature by a Canadian director to come along in years." The Suburbanators was also invited to the 1996 Sundance film festival in Park City, Utah.

In 1997 Gary's second feature Kitchen Party, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Following its critical success in Toronto Kitchen Party was then invited to the 27th New Directors/New Films held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City where the New York Times called it "the funniest, nastiest, comedy of manners to come down the pike in months." Other festival screenings included Rotterdam (in competition) and Turin (in competition, FIPRESCI Award, Special Mention). Kitchen Party opened the Slam Dance festival in Park City and won best feature at the Atlanta Film Festival.

shirleyvercruysse•producer

Before entering the realm of film and television production, Shirley worked as a Producer and Production Manager of special events, festivals and conferences in Vancouver. Film and television related events included; The Vancouver International Film Festival's (VIFF) Trade Forum - Associate Producer from 1992-95; and Producer of the VIFF Multimedia Day in 1995. In 1996 and 1997 she produced the tour of Moving Pictures: The Travelling Canadian Film Festival, which annually tours Canadian feature films throughout Western Canada and the Yukon. In 1995 Shirley worked as Associate Producer on James Barber's Urban Peasant television show.

Her first foray into feature film producing was a direct hit as Producer of the award-winning waydowntown. Produced in Calgary with writer/director Gary Burns, the film has garnered numerous awards including the prestigious TorontoCity Award for best Canadian Feature Film at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. It also won Best Canadian Feature at the Atlantic Film Festival and Most Popular Canadian Film and best screenplay at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Shirley was awarded the 2000 Artistic Merit Award at the Vancouver Film Festival by Vancouver's Women in Film and Video.

James Martin is the author of Calgary: Secrets of the City, published by Arsenal Pulp Press. The book debuted in the #2 position of the Calgary Herald's bestseller list and remains the most popular guide to the city's weirdest places. Martin is also the former editor of the semi-defunct rock and roll monthly VOX and currently writes the celebrated weekly "Mr. Smutty" column for FFWD Magazine. A former office worker with a great fondness for extended lunch-hours, he is intimately familiar with Calgary's Plus-15 system of glass walkways that interconnect the downtown core. waydowntown is his first produced screenplay.

patrickmclaughlin•directorofphotography

Patrick completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production at Concordia University in 1992, where his focus was on cinematography and film theory. Since that time, he has worked consistently as both camera operator and a director of photography on short and feature length films in both 16 and 35 mm formats. He was Director of Photography on Donna Brunsdale's Cheerful, Tearful and worked as a 2^nd unit cameraman on Peter Lynch's documentary Project Grizzly. Patrick has worked with Gary Burns twice before. He was Director of Photography on Suburbanators and was 2^nd unit Director of Photography on Kitchen Party.

With a MFA in visual art, Donna is an accomplished artist and filmmaker. She has exhibited her artwork and films in galleries and festivals across Canada and in Europe. Her own films include the short films Golden Agouti (1994) and Moments of Despondency (1996) and her feature Cheerful Tearful (1998). She has worked closely with Gary Burns on his previous films, but this is her first time in the position of Art Director.

johnabram•composer

John Abram was born and raised in England. He came to Canada in 1984 to study at the University of Victoria and from 1986 to 1988 was Associate Director and Conductor of the Open Space New Music Series at the Open Space Gallery in Victoria. Living and working in Toronto from 1989 to 1994, he co-founded The Drystone Orchestra and was a member of Arcana, also performing with Arraymusic, Strange Companions and others. In 1994 he moved to Calgary and has been active as a recording engineer, producer, post-production audio editor and teacher. He is currently on the teaching staff of Mount Royal College Conservatory and runs the Technology Lab there. John's music has been heard across Canada and elsewhere, performed by Arcana, Arraymusic, Brandon Chamber Players, The Burdocks, Concentus Corvinus, Continuum, Les Coucous Benevoles, The Drystone Orchestra, Interensemble, George W. Welch and others.

Mark Lemmon graduated from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario with a BA in Film Studies. He has worked in the capacity of Assistant Editor, Editor, Post-Production Supervisor and Associate Producer on over 20 television and long form projects and received an AMPIA award for his editing of the television series "North of 60". Mark has worked as editor on both of Gary Burns previous features, Suburbanators and Kitchen Party. waydowntown is his second digital feature.

ODEON FILMS, INC.

ODEON FILMS INC, an Alliance Atlantis Company, is a leading motion picture distributor specializing in independent films from Canada and around the world. Odeon released Gary's last film Kitchen Party and will distribute waydowntown across Canada.