Ingrid Veninger (born August 21, 1968) is a Canadian actress, writer, director, producer, and film professor at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

. Veninger began her career in show business as a

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in film, movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associ ...

in commercials and on television; as a teen, she was featured in the CBC series '' Airwaves'' (1986–1987) and the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

series '' Friday the 13th: The Series'' (1987–1990). In the 1990s, she branched out into producing, and, in 2003, she founded her own

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

, pUNK Films, through which she began to work on her own projects as a writer and director. Veninger's

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

came in 2008, with the release of her low-budget feature film, titled ''Only'', which cost $20,000 to produce. She has written and directed six features films—''Only'' (2008), ''

Modra Modra (german: Modern, hu, Modor, Latin: ''Modur'') is a city and municipality in the Bratislava Region in Slovakia. It has a population of 9,042 as of 2018. It nestles in the foothills of the Malé Karpaty (Little Carpathian mountains) and i ...

'' (2010), '' i am a good person/i am a bad person'' (2011), ''

The Animal Project ''The Animal Project'' is a 2013 Canadian drama film written and directed by Ingrid Veninger and starring Aaron Poole, Hannah Cheesman, and Emmanuel Kabongo. It debuted at the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International ...

'' (2013), ''

He Hated Pigeons ''He Hated Pigeons'' is a 2015 Canadian-Chilean drama film, produced, written, and directed by Ingrid Veninger. The film stars Pedro Fontaine as Elias, a gay Chilean man travelling the length of the country following the death of his partner Sebas ...

'' (2015), and ''

Porcupine Lake ''Porcupine Lake'' is a 2017 Canadian drama film written, produced, and directed by Ingrid Veninger. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. The film had received positive review ...

'' (2017)''—''all of which have screened at film festivals around the world. In 2011, she won the

Toronto Film Critics Association The Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) is an organization of film critics from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is a member of the FIPRESCI. History The Toronto Film Critics Association is the official organization of Toron ...

Jay Scott Prize The Jay Scott Prize is an annual film award presented by the Toronto Film Critics Association, in conjunction with commercial sponsor Stella Artois, to an emerging talent in the Canadian film industry. First presented in 2009, the award was named ...

for an emerging artist. In 2013, she won an EDA Award from the

Alliance of Women Film Journalists The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) is a non-profit organization founded in 2006. It is based in New York City and is dedicated to supporting work by and about women in the film industry. The AWFJ is composed of 84 professional female ...

at the

Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...

. ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' has dubbed Veninger "The DIY Queen of Canadian Filmmaking".

Early life

Veninger was born in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

, before immigrating to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in the 1970s with her parents. Veninger got her start in show business in an advertisement for

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...

with

Megan Follows Megan Elizabeth Laura Diana Follows (born March 14, 1968) is a Canadian-American actress and director. She is known for her role as Anne Shirley in the 1985 Canadian television miniseries '' Anne of Green Gables'' and its two sequels. From 201 ...

at age 11.

Career

1980s–1990s

As a teen actress, Veninger appeared in a number of films and television series, including the CBC comedy-drama series '' Airwaves'' (1986–1987) and the popular horror series '' Friday the 13th: The Series'' (1987–1990). In 1989, at the age of 21, Veninger branched out into producing by optioning the rights to Margaret Atwood's novel '' Cat’s Eye''. She also worked as an assistant director on

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...

's ''

The Adjuster ''The Adjuster'' is a 1991 Canadian drama film directed by Atom Egoyan. It premiered at the New York Film Festival, and was invited to the Director's Fortnight program at the Cannes Film Festival. It is Egoyan's fourth feature film, and the firs ...

'' (1991) and produced

Jeremy Podeswa Jeremy Podeswa (born 1962) is a Canadian film and television director. He is best known for directing the films '' The Five Senses'' (1999) and ''Fugitive Pieces'' (2007). He has also worked as director on the television shows '' Six Feet Under ...

’s

Gemini Gemini may refer to: Space * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac ** Gemini in Chinese astronomy * Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program * Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Norther ...

-nominated music documentary ''Standards'' (1992), and

Peter Mettler Peter Mettler (born September 7, 1958) is a Swiss-Canadian film director and cinematographer. He is best known for his unique, intuitive approach to documentary, evinced by such films as '' Picture of Light'' (1994), '' Gambling, Gods and LSD'' ( ...

's northern lights documentary '' Picture of Light'' (1994). As an actress, she has worked with

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

Holly Hunter Holly Patricia Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film '' The Piano'', Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She earned three additional Academy Award nominations for ...

Jackie Burroughs Jacqueline "Jackie" Burroughs (2 February 1939 – 22 September 2010) was a British-born Canadian actress. Early life Born in Southport, Lancashire (now Merseyside), England, she emigrated to Canada on 26 August 1948 with her mother Edna, ...

, among others.

2000s

In 2000, after working for most of the 1990s as an actress (including a recurring role on the Canadian action series '' La Femme Nikita''), Veninger attended the

Canadian Film Centre The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1988. Originally launched as film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for pr ...

, where she produced fellow student

Julia Kwan Julia Kwan is a Canadians, Canadian screenwriter, director, and occasional producer of her own short and feature films. She has brought a keen sense of the Chinese-Canadian cultural experience to her films. Several of the films were made in conjun ...

’s award-winning short film, ''Three Sisters on Moon Lake'' (2001), which played at Sundance and the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

(TIFF). In 2002, Veninger collaborated with Atom Egoyan and Peter Mettler, among others, on the

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

winning film, '' Gambling, Gods and LSD''. In 2003, Veninger founded her production company, pUNK Films, and began to work on her own projects as a writer and director. She is a frequent collaborator of Canadian filmmaker and actor

Charles Officer Charles Officer (October 28, 1975 – December 1, 2023) was a Canadian film and television director, writer, actor, and professional hockey player. Background Charles Officer was born in Toronto, Ontario on October 28, 1972. He was born to a ...

, having worked on numerous projects with him, including the short film ''Urda/Bone'', which screened at the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...

in 2003 and ''

Nurse.Fighter.Boy ''Nurse.Fighter.Boy'' is a Canadian drama film, directed by Charles Officer and released in 2008."Canadian flicks". ''The Globe and Mail'', September 5, 2008. The film stars Karen LeBlanc as Jude, a widowed single mother undergoing treatment for si ...

'' (2008) which premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. The short film was later picked up for

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

Mongrel Media Mongrel Media is an independent Canadian film distributor established in 1994 by Hussain Amarshi. It is the exclusive Canadian theatrical distributor for Sony Pictures Classics, Neon, and Lionsgate and titles from A24, Amazon Studios, Saban Film ...

. Veninger's

came in 2008, with the release of her low-budget indie film title ''Only'', which screened at a number of local film festivals and cost only $20,000 to produce. Her young son, Jacob starred at the film's protagonist and Veninger appeared in a supporting role as his mother.

2010s–present

Her second film, ''

'', which is about returning to the Bratislava region and her home town of

, was produced in 2010, starring her daughter Hallie Switzer. MODRA was named by

TIFF Tag Image File Format, abbreviated TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is widely supported by scanning, faxing, word process ...

Canada's Top Ten Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival and announced in December each year to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films."Canada's Top Ten awards will honour excellence in Canadian cinema" ...

as one of the ten best Canadian films of 2010. Upon its release, ''

'' dubbed Veninger "The DIY Queen of Canadian filmmaking". Her third film '' i am a good person/i am a bad person'' (2011) was screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and prompted the

to award her the

for an emerging artist. Her fourth film ''

'' (2013) screened at numerous festivals, including in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film received mostly positive reviews, with Norm Wilner of ''NOW Magazine'' writing that "the reigning queen of lo-fi Canadian cinema has upped her game without abandoning any of her characteristic whimsy". ''

The Torontoist ''Daily Hive'', formerly known as ''Vancity Buzz'', is a Canadian online newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It began digital publishing in 2008 and became Western Canada's largest online-only publication by 2016. In September 2022 ...

'' dubbed Veninger the "godmother of Toronto’s D.I.Y. filmmaking scene". The film is currently available for purchase on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

. In 2013, as she accepted an EDA Award from the

for ''The Animal Project'' at the

, Veninger asked the audience for help funding the Femmes Lab, a workshop she was spearheading to produce 6 female-directed feature films for $6,000. She said the $6,000 investment would not only fund six screenplays to be finished by June, it would guarantee the donor first look at the completed scripts. "The room was stone silent", recalled Veninger.

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

-winning actress

Melissa Leo Melissa Chessington Leo (born September 14, 1960) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Critics' Choice A ...

ended up volunteering and put up the money, and the

TIFF Bell Lightbox TIFF Bell Lightbox is a cultural centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the first five floors of the Bell Lightbox and Festival Tower on the north west corner of King Street and John Street. TIFF Bell Lightbox features five cinemas, two ...

offered workshop space. For her fifth feature film, ''

'', Veninger raised over $36,000 from 175 backers on Indiegogo. After production, she toured with the film at numerous festivals around the world. In 2017, Veninger's sixth film, ''

'', was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was based on the script Veninger wrote through her Melissa Leo-funded Femmes Lab, and was also funded in part by

Telefilm A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

. Veninger went into production on her seventh feature film on May 22, 2018, in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

; the film is tentatively titled ''Before We Think'' and will be filmed in several different cities, including

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

, Toronto, Wilmington, among others.

Personal life

Veninger has been married to film composer John Switzer since 1990. They have two children: Hallie and Jacob, both artists. In addition to filmmaking, Veninger works as a part-time contract faculty member at

Awards

for Best Documentary ('' Gambling, Gods and LSD'') (2003) * Audience Award, International (''Modra''),

International Film Festival Bratislava The Bratislava International Film Festival (also known as Bratislava IFF) is an international film festival established in 1999 and held annually in Bratislava, Slovakia. Apart from the international competition programme, it also regularly feature ...

(2010) *

(''i am a good person/i am a bad person''), Toronto Film Critics Association Awards (2012) * EDA Award, Narrative Feature Prize (''The Animal Project''), Alliance of Women Film Journalists (2013)

References

External links

*
Northern Stars: Ingrid Veninger
accessed 4 February 2007
MODRA: Toronto Film Festival

MODRA: Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veninger, Ingrid 1968 births Actresses from Toronto 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Film producers from Ontario Canadian television actresses Living people Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada Canadian Film Centre alumni Canadian child actresses Canadian women film producers Canadian women screenwriters 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian women film directors Film directors from Toronto Writers from Toronto