Ryan Knighton was born on September 19, 1972, in Langley, British Columbia. On his eighteenth birthday, Knighton was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a congenital disease marked by a progressive pathology of night-blindness, tunnel vision and eventually total blindness.

In 1995 he completed a B.A. (Honours) in English at Simon Fraser University. Abandoning graduate studies, he moved to South Korea and became one of the country’s many poverty jetset English teachers (a bad one, too).

When he returned to Canada, Knighton resumed his MA, again at SFU, and completed it in 1998. Despite his rapidly failing eyesight, Knighton was hired just days shy of his twenty-sixth birthday by Capilano College’s English Department. He continues to teach literature and creative writing at the school’s nicest campus. For two years he also served as editor of The
Capilano Review, even curating the magazine’s visual art spread. Good descriptions helped.

In 2001, Anvil Press published his first book, Swing in the Hollow. The following year he co-authored Cars with George Bowering, Canada’s first poet laureate (Coach House Books). Since then, Knighton has written numerous satirical and comic essays for The Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun, the Montreal Gazette, and for such popular magazines as Self, The Utne Reader, Saturday Night and Geist. He has also contributed to CBC radio’s celebrated pop-culture show, “Definitely Not the Opera”, writing and performing radio monologues and documentaries. His darkly comic memoir
about going blind, entitled Cockeyed, was released in April 2006 by Penguin Books

Now in the final stage before total blindness, only 1% of Knighton’s visual field refuses to quit. As for interests, he has many, but none involve sports or sudden movements. Every year he adds another tattoo to his collection, and hopes it comes close to what he imagines. East Vancouver is home, and everybody agrees that Knighton’s wife, Tracy, is something else. You can often find him walking his seeing-eye pug, Cairo

For further information, please visit: http://www.ryanknighton.com

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Scott is a graduate of the film program at Simon Fraser University (1994), and in 1995 was invited to attend the Canadian Film Centre as a Director Resident. His resulting short film, Sshhh, was screened at several international festivals and won the prize for Best Short Film at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic. In 1997, Sshhh was nominated by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for a Genie Award for Best Live Action Short.

In 1998, Smith made his first dramatic feature film, rollercoaster, which premiered at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival. rollercoaster was screened at over 35 film festivals worldwide, winning several awards, including Best Narrative Feature at SXSW in Austin, Texas, and Most Popular Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Stephen Holden from the New York Times wrote –‘astounding...captures the crude anarchic language and daredevil vulnerability of teenagers with a scary accuracy.”

Todd Haynes, in selecting rollercoaster to open a festival in Portland wrote – “A remarkably assured first feature - engrossing but restrained with extraordinary performances from its teenage actors.”

rollercoaster was distributied in the U.S. (DVD) and Canada (theatrical), and has been included in several books, including Katherine Monk’s historical analysis of Canadian film (Weird Sex & Snowshoes (Raincoast), and Robin Wood’s Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan...and Beyond (Columbia Univ. Press), in a chapter devoted to North American teen movies.

In 2003, Smith completed his second feature, Falling Angels, an adaptation of Barbara Gowdy’s novel, starring Miranda Richardson, Callum Keith Rennie, Mark McKinney, and Katherine Isabelle, and produced by Robin Cass and Triptych Media. The dark comedy tells the story of the war-torn Field family in 1969, and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2003 to glowing reviews. Variety wrote “Smith handles complex, troubling agenda here with quiet skill...confirms soph helmer as a keen observer of character drama.” Ken Eisner of the Georgia Straight described it as “a marvel from beginning to end...flawless performances.”

Since it’s premiere, Falling Angels has been screened at over 75 festivals and cities worldwide, and has been acquired for distribution in over 15 countries, including the U.S., Netherlands, Scandinavia, Japan and Mexico. It was nominated for virtually every major award in Canada in 2004, winning 2 Genies (for production design and original song), and a Leo Award for Best Director. It was also selected by the Toronto Film Festival Group’s annual Top Ten for 2003.

As Slow as Possible marks Scott’s first foray into feature documentary. It combines his first love of camera with an interest in following real characters into real situations. Scott continues to develop both drama and documentary projects through his production company Giraffe Productions.

Robin Cass brings to Triptych Media a diverse background that includes work as photo and electronic-based visual artist as well as a decade of experience in series television as a writer, director and field producer for CFT0 and Global. He is a graduate of OCAD.

He is also an active board member and executive board member for the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA), and the About Face organization. For Triptych Media, Robin's credits include LILIES (1996 Genie, Best Film) and FALLING ANGELS, the award-winning 2003 Toronto International Film Festival hit, adapted from the novel by Barbara Gowdy, directed by Scott Smith and starring Miranda Richardson.

Triptych is currently in post-production on director Gary Yate’s HIGH LIFE adapted from the play of the same name with Tim Olyphant, Stephen MacIntyre, Rossif Sutherland and Joe Anderson. Opening in theatres soon, the feature film EMOTIONAL ARITHMETIC (Closing Night Gala at the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival) by Paolo Barzman. Based on the novel by Matt Cohen, the film stars Susan Sarandon, Christopher Plummer, Gabriel Byrne, Roy Dupuis and Max von Sydow.

Triptych also serves as Executive Producer for Richie Mehta's award-winning first feature AMAL. Triptych Media's other productions include 1997's THE HANGING GARDEN, Most Popular Film and Best Canadian Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival, as well as Deepa Mehta's THE REPUBLIC OF LOVE, and Tim Southam's first feature THE BAY OF LOVE AND SORROWS.

The company's television credits include CTV's THE BOOKFAIR MURDERS and CBC'S TALE OF TEEKA, winner of the Banff Rockie for Best Children's Program and the Telefilm Canada Prize for Best Canadian Program in addition to being nominated for the prestigious Prix Italia.

Triptych's LUCKY GIRL won two Gemini awards, including one for its young star, Elisha Cuthbert. Most recently, HEYDAY! which premiered in 2006 on CBC, won the Silver Hugo Award For Feature Length Telefilm - Drama, presented by Cinema/Chicago and the Chicago International Film Festival.

For more information, please visit: http://www.triptychmedia.ca