NEWS
Export Training Asia Pacific (ETAP) Program
The Racial Equity Screen Office is excited to present Export Training Asia Pacific (ETAP), a training and development program for racialized Producers ready to export to and work with creative partners in the Asia Pacific. Launched with support from the Canada Media Fund, and CanExport Associations, ETAP’s main goal is to support and equip Producers with the global relationships, and foster the growth of participant companies and facilitate the creative pathways needed for greater co-production by Canadians, across the Asia-Pacific.
RESO's ETAP Program is designed for content creators and producers who are already working in the film and television industries who wish to expand their operation internationally by increasing their knowledge of producing and co-producing in the Asia Pacific region and those who are interested in building up a pan Asian professional network. Six (6) producers with a project will be selected to prepare and refine their television/streaming series for co-production or export in the Asia Pacific, with a core focus on ensuring their commercial potential in a competitive global environment.
Meet the Board of Directors!
We are excited to announce new Board members joining the Racial Equity Screen Office in 2024! Following our exciting inaugural EXNW Global Summit in Vancouver in 2023, we are honoured to expand our board with this stellar group of creative, community, and professional leaders from across Canada, the US, and Asia.
Please join us in welcoming new Directors for 2024: Ali Elashram (Muslims in Media), Daniella Etienne (Le Code Switch Agency), Megan Mah (WeirFoulds LLP), Ryan Wang (Outpost Capital), and Devon Wong (Facing East).
We are grateful for our existing Directors for their ongoing service and dedication: Barbara Lee (RESO Founder), Andrew Chung (Writer, Director), Ying Wang (Cinevolution Media Arts Society), and Brian Pang (Electronic Arts)
Our heartfelt thanks to outgoing member, Pezhman Hadavi as he focuses on his international production projects, and British Columbia Environmental Film Festival.
Learn more about our Board of Directors…
2023 Wrap Up
Take a look back at RESO’s successful year:
Advocacy EXNW Outreach & Events
Thank you to everyone who joined us in 2023! Your excitement, support, and collective desire to grow an empowered and more equitable media sector in Canada and beyond, has played a vital role in shaping new pathways, global bridges, and a more inclusive world of entertainment. We’re brimming with excitement and news to share for 2024 - here’s to another year of impact, growth, and collaboration.
CRTC Hearing: RESO's Vision for a Transformed Canadian Media Landscape
On November 24, RESO was invited to present at pivotal CRTC hearings in Ottawa. Alongside colleagues from across Canada, RESO advocated for redefining "Canadian Content" and outlined a comprehensive strategy for inclusive investment in the media industry. Representing RESO was Barbara Lee, Founder and Board Chair. RESO emphasized the urgency of addressing historical underrepresentation and marginalization of Black and racialized communities in decision-making roles.
National Film Board of Whose Canada?
RESO’s racial equity audit on productions funded by the National Film Board of Canada reveals long standing systemic racial inequities within Canada’s film industry.
Despite their statements pledging to elevate racial equity, the NFB has long failed to provide equal opportunities to Black and racialized creatives behind the camera.
RESO Responds to Knowledge Network’s Change in Leadership
After the events of 2020, when corporations, broadcasters and media companies one by one acknowledged their complicity and harm they have inflicted on the Indigenous, Black and racialized communities, Knowledge Network remained conspicuously silent.
This led to the Vancouver Asian Film Festival, the Racial Equity Screen Office, and the Documentary Organization of Canada BC I YT I NT chapter’s first letter to advocate for an independent racial equity audit of Knowledge Network’s commissioning and acquisitions practices and funding recipients. Knowledge eventually chose their own independent auditing company without our input to complete this work.
RESO & VAFF Responds to Knowledge Network’s Equity Audit Report
After over a year of intensive advocacy work, the Vancouver Asian Film Festival, the Racial Equity Screen Office, and the Documentary Organization of Canada are pleased to see the public release of the racial equity audit of British Columbia’s Knowledge Network (KN). The report provides stark quantitative evidence to what many have experienced personally: the gross racial inequity in funding at British Columbia’s sole provincially funded broadcaster.