We are pleased to introduce the inaugural DOC Executive Accelerator (DEA) Lab cohort :
Émilie Martel, Hannah Donegan, Lisa Rideout, Ossob Hassan , Raj Panikkar
These five accomplished and award-winning producers have been selected for their distinctive creative voices, industry experience and commitment to advancing ambitious documentary work. Together, they represent an exciting cross-section of Canada’s independent production landscape, with projects spanning documentary, scripted television, animation and unscripted storytelling.
The cohort brings a breadth of perspectives, expertise and production experience that reflects the strength and diversity of Canada’s independent documentary sector. Their projects span a range of forms, subjects and creative approaches, with a shared focus on distinctive, ambitious storytelling.
The Documentary Executive Accelerator Lab is a professional leadership development program designed to strengthen executive leadership, strategic management, governance, financial stewardship, organizational sustainability, and industry relationships within Canada’s documentary sector.
Over the course of the DEA Lab, participants will have opportunities to build industry relationships, expand their international networks and advance their projects toward new financing, partnership and market opportunities. Their journey will continue through TIFF The Market and the Access Canada Summit, providing a platform to further develop connections and momentum within the global documentary ecosystem.
We look forward to supporting this exceptional group of producers as they take their work to the next stage and contribute to the continued growth and international reach of Canada’s independent documentary sector.
Émilie Martel
Émilie is a Franco-Ontarian director, writer and producer with mixed Québécois and Huron-Wendat ancestry. Her projects have received support from Telefilm Canada, Hot Docs Cross, Ontario Creates, Bell Fund, the Canadian Council for the Arts, the Ontario Art Council and more. She created, co-wrote and co-directed a fiction teen series about girls in a hockey league (TFO,8x13min), directed and co-produced the first and second seasons of an animated series about the Métis culture (TFO,19x13min) and directed and wrote an unscripted tween cooking
series that was nominated for a Prix Gémeaux (TFO,29x13min). She directed and produced Alias Marie-Soleil (1x48min Radio-Canada,TFO), directed Au coeur du Yukon 2 (UnisTV,7x52min) and 180 (TVA/TFO,14x22min). She is a recipient of The National Film Institute Access BIPOC Producer, WIDC and Banff Diversity of Voices (‘18,’19,’20,’24). She is currently developing a slate of fiction and non-fiction projects, supported by CMF, Bell Fund as well as producing her first documentary feature Land of no Pain.
Hannah Donegan
Hannah Donegan is an award-winning documentary producer, credits include the 2025 Canadian Screen Award-winning CBC Original THE LONELIEST RACE; BLACK ZOMBIE, which premiered at SXSW 2026; the 2024 Crave Original about Broken Social Scene, IT’S ALL GONNA BREAK; the Hot Docs 2021 Opening Night
film, A.RTIFICIAL I.MMORTALITY; and Emmy-nominated/Oscar- shortlisted MY ENEMY, MY BROTHER. She was the showrunner for the 2022 CBC Gem documentary series STAY TOONED, and made her directorial debut with the 2016 biographical film, SUGAR SISTERS. She is currently in post-production on the TVO x GAY AGENDA feature
UNTITLED QUEER ELDERS PROJECT, the TELUS Original JOHNNY TIGER, and the ITVS co-production THIS IS ME LOVING YOU. Hannah is now in production with the NFB on SUNDANCE HARVEST, and the CBC feature documentary EXCODED, which was pitched at the IDFA Forum and Hot Docs Forum where it won the First Look Prize and Best Canadian Pitch.
Lisa Rideout
Lisa Rideout is an award-winning director, writer and producer. She founded Lifted Eyes Media Inc. in 2013, an independent production company dedicated to character-driven stories about women forging paths outside of societal norms. She has worked with Netflix, CBC, VICE and other leading broadcasters and production companies. Lisa’s films have screened at TIFF, Raindance, Hot Docs, Big Sky, Doc Edge, RIIFF and the Austin Film Festival, earning multiple awards at Oscar-qualifying festivals.
Recent credits include directing and writing Degrassi: Whatever It Takes, which premiered to sold-out audiences at TIFF in 2025, and directing, writing and producing Sex with Sue, winner of the 2023 Canadian Screen Award for Best Documentary Program. In 2023, she also co-produced season two of the Hot Docs series Citizen Minutes. She is currently producing Farhiya Ahmed’s debut feature while developing her own work.
Ossob Hassan
Ossob Hassan is a Toronto-based documentary producer who lends her patience, creativity, intuition, and skill to bringing compelling narratives to the screen. Her body of work sits at the intersection of social inquiry, historical reckoning, and personal story. Smallaxx Motion Pictures produced Village Keeper, Karen Chapman’s feature directorial debut which had its world premiere as an official selection TIFF 2024. The film went on to win the Best First Feature Film Award at the 2025 Canadian Screen Awards, cementing Smallaxx as a rising force in Canadian independent cinema. Looking ahead, Smallaxx Motion Pictures is currently in production on upcoming feature
documentary Roots, and dedicated to developing a diverse slate of documentary films and series, animated features, and scripted shows, with a focus on storytelling that is grounded in impact.
Raj Panikkar
Raj Panikkar is an award-winning Toronto based producer. With his outfit Fifth Ground Entertainment, his productions have included the documentary series Reelside (The Movie Network); the half-hour comedy series Rent-A- Goalie (Showcase); the music documentary series The Rawside Of… (IFC); and, Players’ PlayBook a digital documentary series with over 9 million views, in association with BlackBerry and the NHLPA. Currently he’s writing and developing the horror drama series Dark Hall, with support from the CMF, and a science docuseries about de-extinction called Bringing Back the Lost (in development with Blue Ant Studios). He is also in development with the CBC on a doc for The Passionate Eye called Sittler Ten.
As well, through Fifth Ground Raj is producing series for kids, including live- action science adventure series Leo’s FishHeads and Leo’s Pollinators for TVOkids. The series Secrets of the Forest (TVOkids) is on air, while The Screen Team (TVOkids) is now in production, and Toot and Jimmy and Yo O-Zo are in development. Nearly every season of every television series he has produced has won or been nominated for major industry awards, and he was nominated for a CSA for Best Direction in a Documentary Series for an episode of Reelside he directed. Raj executive produced the award-winning feature film At Home By Myself…With You. He is also producing Fifth Ground’ socially conscious documentary productions including the documentary feature Between The Pages. Raj is perpetually developing multiple projects for various platforms.