DIRECTORS

Ali Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker living in Toronto, Canada whose character-driven work often centres on people searching for a sense of belonging. Her latest feature YOUR TOMORROW (TVO) premiered at TIFF 2024 where it won a runner up Audience Choice Award. Her first feature documentary MERMAIDS (Super Channel), about a group of women living a mermaid lifestyle, debuted at Hot Docs 2017 and has since been broadcast in Canada, Brazil, France, Israel, and Germany. In 2018, she co-directed THE IMPOSSIBLE SWIM (TSN) about a 16-year-old girl attempting to swim across Lake Ontario at its widest point. In 2020, she directed #BLESSED (CBC) about the stunning success of an Evangelical church amongst the youth of downtown Toronto, and that same year she produced the feature documentary THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE THIS PLACE, ANYPLACE (CBC) about the redevelopment of the iconic Honest Ed’s block in Toronto, which was nominated for two Canadian Screen Awards and won an Audience Choice Award at Hot Docs. Ali has also worked as an Associate Producer on films directed by acclaimed Canadian documentarians Alan Zweig, Nicholas de Pencier, and Kevin McMahon. She holds an MFA in Documentary Media Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University, and for four years served as a board member of Breakthroughs Film Festival, the only short film festival showcasing work exclusively by women and non-binary filmmakers in Canada.