In celebration of Pride Month, Sharon Lewis (BA ’89 Innis) presents her award-winning film, With Wonder — a subjective documentary that tries to answer the question: can you be Christian and Queer?
The screening will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, principal education conductor and community ambassador of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
This special Canadian Film Forum screening is presented by Innis College and the Cinema Studies Institute.
Sharon Lewis’s directing work has been well received on every Canadian broadcaster platform and premium U.S. broadcasters such as HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, FX and many more. Sharon is well known in the screen industry for her directing flair, distinct cinematic voice, respect with crew, and her ability to inspire award-winning performances from her actors. Sharon’s work has been recognized internationally and includes multiple nominations for Best Director for her feature and documentary film work: six Canadian Screen Awards nominations as a Showrunner and Director, and in 2021 she was awarded a CSA for Best Direction of a Factual Series.
She uses her own knowledge as a former actor which began when she took the entertainment world by storm in her title role in the Cannes-nominated film RUDE: the first all-black above-the-line feature film out of Canada. While juggling her acting career in Los Angeles, Sharon honed her directing skills at the prestigious University of California Los Angeles. She went on to direct several award-winning internationally-screened short films, and the debut of her first feature film Brown Girl Begins in 2017 solidified her place as a sought after director in the realm of scripted, black women protagonists, genre, Caribbean, and BIPOC on screen. Sharon has worked with some of the top talent in film and TV including: four-time Grammy Award Winner Kelly Rowland, Jason Priestly, Timothy Hutton, Doug Liman, Clement Virgo, and she recently directed a movie for the Oprah Winfrey Network.
At present Sharon is converging all of her experience, storytelling skills and directorial knowledge to fully realize her talent as an exceptional filmmaker. She is also continuing her work through her production company, urbansoul inc, on genre features and scripted TV series, highlighting the stories and talents of black women, black queer women, and the BIPOC 2SLGBTQ+ community.
A passionate communicator, Daniel brings clarity and meaning to the concert hall, fostering deep connections between audiences and performers. Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser is concurrently the Principal Youth Conductor and Creative Partner of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Principal Education Conductor and Community Ambassador of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Artist in Residence and Community Ambassador of Symphony Nova Scotia, and Resident Conductor of Engagement and Education of the San Francisco Symphony.
He served as Assistant Conductor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and Associate Conductor of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. Daniel has performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, and was Cover Conductor with the Washington National Opera in 2020.
In the 2021 Season Daniel will debut with the Carnegie Hall Link-Up Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Opera Company.
Daniel is the host of Canadian Broadcasting Company’s nationally broadcast weekly radio show Centrestage.
He was also the subject of an award-winning, full-length Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary called Disruptor Conductor, focussing on his concerts for Neurodiverse, Prison, African Diaspora and LGBTQ2S+ populations.
Daniel earned his Bachelors in Music Performance and Education from the University of Calgary, and his Master of Philosophy in Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.
