COHORT 3 PARTICIPANT

Kelly-Anne Riess is a documentary filmmaker and journalist based in Cold Lake, Alberta.
Under her company, Riess Stormmedia, she has produced and directed three documentaries.
Her most recent film, Yee Clun and the Exchange Cafe, was created with Canada 150 funding in 2017 in partnership with Concordia University. The film was shortlisted for a Golden Sheaf Award at the Yorkton Film Festival in 2018.
In 2014, Riess was one of 15 Canadian filmmakers to receive a grant from the Telefilm Micro-Budget Production Fund for Emerging Filmmakers. Basically, this meant she received $50,000 to help make her documentary Finding Al. This film had her following the Soo Rail Line, taking her from Moose Jaw down to Chicago, looking for evidence that connected legendary gangster Al Capone to Canada. The documentary aired nationally on CBC the following year on Absolutely Canadian.
In 2013, Riess won the MTS Stories from Home $20,000 Pitch Competition at the Gimli Film Festival. This funded the documentary Artists by Night. It premiered at the same festival a year later.
She was a CTV National Fellow at the Banff World Media Festival in 2011.
As a freelance journalist, she’s written for such publications as the Globe and Mail, Canadian Geographic, and Chatelaine.
Currently, she expanded her business to include an independent news website, called The Flatlander, after being one of nine journalists from across North America selected to participate in the Indiegraf Indie News Challenge.