Jonas Quastel is one of Vancouver's premiere writer/directors. A multifaceted creative professional with over 20 years experience in the world of dramatic feature film, Quastel lives in Vancouver, BC and works wherever movies take him.
He began his career in the lighting and camera departments with the intention of becoming a director of photography. While gaining on-set experience he began writing screenplays and soon had a quick succession of scripts produce- Crackerjack, starring Nastassia Kinski and Christopher Plummer; Listen, a thriller starring Brooke Langdon; and Sub Zero with Costas Mandylor and Nia Peebles. Jonas’s directorial debut was the feature The Untold (2002), which he also wrote, starring Lance Henriksen and Andrea Roth. Next was Ripper II, shot in Prague starring Erin Karpluk, Premonition, a suspense thriller with Casper Van Dien and Catherine Oxenberg and Scourge with Robyn Ledoux and Russ Ferrier which was nominated for a Best Direction Leo award. Jonas also co-produced the CTV movie of the week What Color Is Love? and directed and wrote Forced to Fight with Peter Weller and Gary Daniels. Most recently he wrote The Stepchild with Lauren Holly and Paul Johansson and is currently writing and has a number of feature projects in development including features The Stretch and Dark Light.
Katrin Bowen is a passionate teacher, and award-winning filmmaker and feels incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to teach what she loves. She has taught careers for the acting, directing, and writing streams at Langara College, directing at In Focus Film School, writing for film at Vancouver Film School, teaching world cinema at Alexander College, and teaching Careers, Introduction to Production and the Art of the Short Film at Langara College.
Katrin has been teaching at the college level for the past ten years and has thoroughly enjoyed combining her love of making films, with her love of teaching. Part of her work includes collaborating with the film departments to come up with a practical and effective curriculum. She grades students fairly, gives positive constructive feedback on their work, and strives to bring out their best.
Katrin directed her first feature film “Amazon Falls”, which went on to great critical success with a world premiere at TIFF, Best Feature Film Award at The Female Eye Festival, and Katrin won the vision award for best direction at the 2011 WIFTV Spotlight Awards. Katrin’s second feature film: "Random Acts of Romance” was nominated for four Leo Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Screenplay, and played at film festivals as diverse as Miami and Cameroon, Africa. She is in development on three feature films and directs the cooking show: “Get Cooking with the Stars”.
Katrin’s directing career began at Berkeley, where she made an award-winning documentary on rap music: She won the Vision Award for Best Director, and the Best International Film Award at the Chroma festival for her second short film "Almost Forgot My Bones". and he 90 second “mind bomb” she directed for Adbusters went viral with over 800,000 views in one week. Most recently, she directed the innovative short film and video game “Jane Doe” for story hive.
Katrin is an Alumnae of the University of California at Berkeley, The Cannes Producing Intensive, Women in the Director’s Chair, The Toronto International Film Festival Talent Lab and The Berlinale Talent Campus.
Jason has been a professional in the Film & Television industry for almost 20 years, specializing in Voice Over acting for film, television, animation, and commercial work. After graduating with excellence from the Acting program at the Vancouver Film School, Jason quickly found himself immersed back in the school as a TA and then as an instructor. For many years he taught and helped create a number of classes, such as Moving Master, Shoot & Edit, and Voice Over for Animation & Commercial.
Throughout the duration of his teaching years, Jason continued to audition and work as a professional actor… Being on set or in a studio proves to be the best teacher! Jason coaches all levels of actors in character development and prep, scene study, and audition preparation for all mediums facets of voice over. Jason’s CV ranges from 150+ radio ads to obscure Japanese animé, hit feature films like Asterix & Obelix, blockbuster animated series like My Little Pony and Nexo Knights, dozens of video games like League of Legends and NHL ’18, and top rated TV shows like Arrow, Riverdale, and iZombie.
Jason loves everything about his work: the acting, the teaching, the coaching, the exploring… it’s always his pleasure to speak on it, answer questions, and give those interested a better understanding of the industry and its many facets.
Jennifer Copping is a highly sought after Teacher, Director, Coach, and Mentor. Many of her clients are acclaimed young actors with burgeoning careers . Her career spans 30+ years as an actor in the film and television industry and onstage across Canada and the U.S. Highlights include touring to Alaska with "Les Miserables", playing Sally Simpson in the Canadian premier of "The Who's Tommy", touring and living in Chicago with "Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" starring Donny Osmond and most recently playing Mary Delgado in the Canadian premier of "Jersey Boys”. Locally, she has recently worked onstage for The Arts Club playing Jesus in “Godspell" and Alex in "The Day Before Christmas" as well as "Indian Arm" for Rumble and “Detroit" for Mitch and Murray. Up next is “The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime” for The Arts Club. On television she can be seen in shows such as “Travellers”, “Bates Motel”, "Fargo”,”Van Helsing”," Continuum”, "Motive" " When Calls The Heart" and "The Killing". Favorite films have included “Mother Of All Lies”, "Ill Fated", "See Grace Fly", "Protection", "Once Upon A Mattress", 'Slither" and "Becoming Redwood " for which she won the 2013 Leo Award for Best Actress, and the recently shot "Rabbit”. Her proudest accomplishments are her 20-year marriage to her husband, filmmaker Jesse James Miller and their two sons Cian and Keen.
Bette Chadwick’s career in casting has spanned over three decades. It began in Edmonton, Alberta, where she worked on many independent projects, including commercials, drama-documentaries, television series (including SCTV), independent features, MOW’s and eventually major motion pictures. Her work took her all over Canada, seeking talent for a then burgeoning film industry and eventually re-locating from Edmonton to Vancouver. Here, she did several major television series including the award winning anthology series “The Outer Limits”, “Andromeda”, “North of 60” (in Calgary) and others, MOW’s and location casting on major feature films such as “Rat Race” and “Legends of the Fall. In 2003 she was nominated for a Prime Time Emmy for “Door to Door”. She has been teaching the Audition Lab at Langara College Film Arts Program since 2009 and is grateful to have the opportunity to share her knowledge and experience with her students.
