Our People

The recipient of the 2024 Jackson Wild Rising Star Award, Ryan has already filmed on all seven continents and his cinematography has featured in nature and science documentaries for major networks, including CBC, PBS NOVA and BBC. Most recently Ryan produced, directed and filmed the short documentary, The Bird in My Backyard for CBC, which won the Wildlife & Environment category at the 2024 Jackson Wild Media Awards and Best Short Film at the 2024 Banff Mountain Film Festival. He has been a cinematographer on several of Handful of Films' recent productions including Frozen in Time, Animal Pride and the 2025 Emmy© winning Hunt for the Oldest DNA. Wilkes is an alumnus of the Jackson Wild Media Lab and the Being Black in Canada filmmaking program and is an Associate Member of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers.

A bright light in a new generation of filmmaking, Rio’s career sits agnostically between small-crew documentary, interactive museum installations, theatrical forms, and large-scale immersive media experiences. Her directorial debut Fox Chaser (CBC) swept the 2019 Alberta Motion Picture Awards and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award. Since then, she has produced 32 short films for the relaunched Royal Alberta Museum, produced content for Edmonton’s Indigenous People’s Experience, co-founded the Indigenous speaker’s series REDx Talks, and helped design and produce aerial nature films for immersive flying attractions. She has directed two award-winning documentaries with Handful of Films – True Survivors and Animal Pride – both for CBC’s The Nature of Things.

A former competitive freeride skier, Athan Merrick is an award-winning cinematographer with a background in lighting on big Hollywood productions and shooting adventure ski films in British Columbia and around the world. He was raised in the desert vistas of New Mexico by artist parents and is now settled in the ocean and mountain wonderland of Vancouver Island, Canada. These experiences meld into cinematography that brings souvenirs from the frontier to the screen. Highlights include a CSC (Canadian Society of Cinematographers) Award in 2018 for his work on the art installation, Uninterrupted, a Leo Award in 2018 (BC Film Awards) for his ski film, Numinous, and the directing cinematography on the 2025 Emmy© winner, Hunt for the Oldest DNA.

Carolyn is an ecologist, science communicator, and film producer committed to documentary storytelling that drives social change and conservation efforts. In 2021, Carolyn joined Handful of Films as an associate producer for Carbon the Unauthorized Biography (2022) and more recently produced the CBC one-offs True Survivors and Animal Pride, both of which won multiple BC film awards and Canadian Screen Award nominations. In 2023, Carolyn was recognised as the Emerging Producer of the Year at the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers.

Danny's experience as a recovering mechanical engineer, and fulltime filmmaker and outdoor adventurer, creates a versatility in form and technical proficiency. Working with his partner Rio Mitchell and on his own, his documentary and innovative multiscreen installations have won widespread recognition. Director of Photography for the flagship immersive 360° projection gallery What Makes Us Strong at the Royal Alberta Museum, Danny was also nominated for a cinematography AMPIA Rosie for a multiscreen film at Fort Edmonton’s Indigenous Peoples Experience. Danny was DOP for the multi award winning films Elder in the Making (CBC, 2016) and the Rosie-winning Fox Chaser (CBC, 2019). More recently, Danny has worked with Handful of Films on major broadcast documentaries as both Cinematographer (Hunt for the Oldest DNA, True Survivors, Animal Pride) and Editor (True Survivors, Animal Pride, Frozen in Time).

Jillian is a self-taught photographer turned cinematographer, with a passion for telling compelling stories about humans and nature. Drawing on her background in psychology, she builds trusting relationships that create spaces for authentic narratives to naturally unfold. Her recent cinematography credits include The Bird in My Backyard (CBC), PUSH (Storyhive), and Animal Pride (The Nature of Things). Jillian continues to work on both personal and commissioned projects that educate audiences and shift perspectives through compelling storytelling and imagery.

Linda co-founded Handful of Films with her partner, Niobe Thompson, and manages film festival strategy, web and social media presence, as well as running production coordination for the company. Trained in Anthropology (MA, University of London), she has worked on location with Handful of Films in Greenland, Jordan, South Africa, Siberia and Canada’s Rocky Mountains.

Jonathan Kawchuk is a Canadian composer and sound artist. His score for the Emmy® Award-winning film Hunt for the Oldest DNA (2024) won the Canadian Screen Music Award (CASMA) for Best Original Score in a Documentary.  He has scored episodes of CBC’s The Nature of Things and PBS's Nova, including Frozen in Time, True Survivors, and Carbon: The Unauthorized Biography. His work spans theatre, film, and sound installations.  He has worked on albums for Nico Muhly and Ben Frost, and studied field recording under Chris Watson. An alumnus of several music residencies, he is a Grammy voting member, recording artist on Paper Bag Records, and the Canadian representative for acoustic conservation non-profit Quiet Parks International.

Sandra has over three decades of experience in the documentary film industry as a freelance writer, director and producer, and is now Director of Business Affairs for Handful of Films. After graduating from the University of Alberta (B.Sc.), she joined Karvonen Films, where she worked on over 30 nature documentaries, including the award-winning projects Land of the Ice Bear (1991) – a co-production with the NFB – Ancient Rainforest: Land of Giants (2002), and Circumpolar Bears (2005). Sandra has managed all production for Handful of Films since its founding and was a Producer of the 2025 Emmy© Award winner Hunt for the Oldest DNA.

David is an award-winning composer with a Master’s in Music Technology from New York University and a passion for exploring non-traditional sounds. Known for his easy-going demeanour, technological expertise, and creative approach, David has created scores that have been heard around the world in theatres, on TV (CBC, BBC, ABC, PBS, ESPN, National Geographic, and others), in podcasts, and all over the Internet. He has worked with Handful of Films to design and engineer sound for a series of broadcast documentaries, including Carbon – The Unauthorized Biography, True Survivors, Animal Pride, Frozen in Time, and the 2025 Emmy© Award winner Hunt for the Oldest DNA.

Jen has been helping creative and mission-driven professionals master their finances since 2021. Specializing in film production, non-profits, and small businesses, Jen focuses on customized financial solutions and process streamlining. At Handful of Films, she ensures our financial systems run smoothly and efficiently.

Ally is an experienced producer with a decades-long track record creating compelling stories that captivate audiences through animation and live action. These include the Emmy© nominated Plum Landing for PBS Kids, internationally acclaimed documentary Sustainable and History Channel’s The Boneyard: With George St. Pierre. In addition to her film, television and over 70 commercial credits, Ally served as technical project manager for IOS apps Sir Bit and A Sweet Story, one of the first interactive children’s books to hit the market. Ally joined Handful of Films in 2020, where she was recently a Producer of the 2025 Emmy© Award winner Hunt for the Oldest DNA.