COHORT 3 PARTICIPANT

Laura Friedmann is a Colombian-born, Toronto-based creative producer and director passionate about championing diverse content and using film as a tool for education, equity, and social justice. For over a decade, she has worked as a producer, director, cinematographer and editor.

Her feature documentary, ‘The Painting’, based on her personal and family history, is currently in development. She was the cinematographer for the feature documentary ‘Glimpses Into the Spirit of Gender Equality’ which premiered at the 2021 UN Commission on the Status of Women and was officially selected to a number of festivals receiving multiple awards. ‘The Ward’, a series she's producing with CaribbeanTales, was selected to the 2021 Netflix/Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative. Laura participated in the 2019 and 2020 Creators of Colour Incubator, where the feature film she’s producing ‘Tenaya’ was awarded the Audience Choice Award for its pitch at TIFF.

In 2020, she was awarded a scholarship and graduated from the WIFT Toronto/Bell Media Leadership Program at the Schulich School of Business. Laura was co-creator and facilitator at the 2018 Native Film & Storytelling Institute's pilot program at the University of California San Diego. In 2021, she led the Creators of Colour Incubator and the yearly ‘Big Pitch’ in partnership with TIFF. For five years she served on the board of directors of Breakthroughs Film Festival.

She is co-owner of Wrapped Productions and is also on the BIPOC women-led development team at CineFAM. Her current development slate includes documentaries, short films, TV series, and feature films.