News & Events

News: The AFC Welcomes New Leadership

Toronto — Sept. 26, 2019 — The AFC, the lifeline for Canada’s entertainment industry, announces the election of Board Member Deborah Bernstein as President of the Board, Board Member Adrian MacDonald as Vice-President, and the appointment of new members Ryan Goldhar, Alan Goluboff, and Hari Krishnan. Gerard Roxburgh will remain a member of The AFC Board as Past President, and Barbara Gordon joins the Executive Committee as Secretary.

Ryan Goldhar has worked in the Canadian film and television industry for over 20 years. He is currently an agent for some of Canada’s top talent at the Characters Talent Agency and has been executive producing for over 10 years. Ryan’s most recent project, Becoming Burlesque, written and directed by Jackie English, is his first as lead producer. It has enjoyed many festival screenings, received awards, had a theatrical run in Canada, and is about to embark on its US theatrical debut. Read full bio.

Alan Goluboff is a film and television director. He made his professional directorial debut on the series Destiny Ridge after years of working as a First Assistant Director on dozens of films and television programs across Canada, the US and Europe. Goluboff went on to direct numerous episodes of Mutant X, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, Twice in A Lifetime, Traders, Ready or Not, Cold Blood, Rabbit Fall, as well as continuing to work as a 1AD. Additionally, Alan was National President of the Directors Guild of Canada for eight years and is now in his fifth term as Chair of the Directors Guild of Canada Ontario. Read full bio.

Hari Krishnan is the artistic director of Toronto-based company inDANCE and Associate Professor of Dance in the Department of Dance at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He holds a PhD in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and his research areas include queer identities in dance performance, contemporary dance from global perspectives, colonialism, post-colonialism and Indian dance, Bharatanatyam in Tamil cinema and the history of courtesan dance traditions in South India. Krishnan has been awarded the Bessie Schoenberg Choreographic Residency Award (USA), Eramus Mundus Award (Europe), New Pioneer Award for the Arts (Canada), and Desi Canadian Achiever Award (Canada), amongst others. Krishnan is commissioned internationally for his radical and unorthodox choreography. Read full bio.

“We extend the warmest welcome to our new board members: Alan, Hari, and Ryan. Your diverse expertise and your deep commitment to promoting a healthy, creative, and sustainable arts and entertainment industry in Canada will be invaluable in supporting the work of The AFC. I hope your experience on this board will be enriching and inspiring,” said Deborah Bernstein.

The AFC would like to thank our outgoing board members Jan Miller, Prem Gill, Zaib Shaikh, Fiona Reid, C.M., D.C.L., and Sugith Varughese for their dedicated service.

“Our outgoing members were uniformly outstanding in their service to the organization. During their time on the board Jan, Prem, Sugith, and Zaib were strong advocates for The AFC in the film & television community, providing thoughtful industry insights and considered advice about the growth and future of The AFC. Sugith, in particular, made many valuable contributions in the areas of finance and policy and ably steered the golf committee towards greater success each year,” Gerard Roxburgh said.

“We are, of course, greatly indebted to Fiona for her years of dedicated and visionary leadership of the organization as President, then as Past President through our rebranding as The AFC, and for her instrumental role in the birth of our Financial Wellness Program,” Roxburgh added.

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