Leah Mallen
Leah Mallen has been working in the film and television industry for over twelve years. She attended the acclaimed Canadian Film Centre, and studied Film and Directing at New York University. After working for several years independently as a casting director, publicist, production manager and producer, Leah joined the Vancouver-based company Screen Siren Pictures in 2001 where she produced and developed various film and television projects over six years. She served as Vice President of the company in 2005/2006. Selected credits produced at Screen Siren include the feature length, international co-production documentary Hammer and Tickle, co-produced with Alegria Pictures of Paris and directed by renowned UK director Ben Lewis. The film premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival and won Best New Documentary at the 2006 Zurich Film Festival. The film, a mixed media production of live-action and animation, explores the world of humour throughout the communist regimes of Eastern Europe and Asia. A book based on the film will be published in 2008. Leah also produced the documentary Breaking Ranks, a story about US army war resisters coming to Canada to seek refugee status, which was selected to premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival and aired on Global Television. The film was also nominated for three Leo Awards, including Best Social Political Documentary. Leah has also produced the feature length film The Score for CBC’s Opening Night, based on Vancouver’s Electric Company Theatre’s award-winning play. The film tells the story of a female geneticist struggling with the challenges of keeping her genetic research lab on the cutting edge meanwhile facing her own genetic destiny when she tests positive for Huntington’s Disease. The film was selected to screen at the INPUT festival in Taipei in 2005 and has the endorsement and support of Genome Canada, which screens the film at genetic conferences and events across the country.
Leah’s other credits include several acclaimed short films including The Space Between (2003), written and directed by Chad Lowe, starring Oscar © winner Hilary Swank, which screened at the Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Tribeca, Palm Springs, and Cambridge Film Festivals. She also produced Mark Sawers’ Genie-nominated short film Lonesome Joe (2002) for Canal+ and the Comedy Network, which screened at the Toronto, Cambridge and Vancouver Film Festivals. Her first short film with Mark Sawers was the Genie-nominated Shoes Off! (1999), which screened at the Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver Film Festivals, along with several international festivals and won Best Short Film at the International Critics Week at the Cannes Film Festival and was broadcast on HBO in the US.
Recently, Leah formed the company Twofold Films, her own film and television company where she will be producing a slate of documentary and dramatic projects with award winning and acclaimed directors and producers. She is an active board member of both the Documentary Organization of Canada and the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto and is an active member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.