MEET THE TEAM
COMPOSER
BEN J. LEE
Ben J. Lee is a British-Canadian composer, arranger and music director based out of Toronto, Canada.
Since the age of three years old, Ben has been immersed in music whether it be playing or composing. Raised in the UK, he was taught piano and brass with the Royal Academy of Music. On moving to Canada in 2006, he discovered his passion for writing orchestral music and found his way into the storytelling world of film and TV.
Ben holds a strong passion for bringing sophisticated music into the world of film and television, specializing in a hybrid of orchestral and electronic scores.
Outside of film music, Ben has stepped into the pop world arranging and orchestrating for artists and musical acts. His latest projects are arrangements for The Aloud Charity for the choir, Only Boys Aloud, based out of Cardiff, Wales. He has also worked with artists Fairview, Natalie Tyer, Elio and Valley.
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JUDGE
LAURA STEPONCHEV
Laura Steponchev is a Canadian actress, writer, director, and producer living in Toronto, Ontario. She fell in love with creating and performing at a very young age, writing stories and songs to perform for anyone who would listen. She is both thrilled and a little intimidated that To My Grave will be her directorial debut, but she is eager to bring her film to life.
As a performer, she has worked extensively with directors, and her long-standing writing career has given her an extremely vivid imagination, resulting in both the capacity for creativity and the ability to effectively communicate her vision to her team.
At the beginning of 2021, Laura launched Caprius Films, the new Canadian independent film production company, with her best friend and business partner, Cesar Erba. She’s written several short films, including their award-nominated film Reasons, as well as the proof-of-concept short film Proper and its subsequent feature film, Evermore. Her second feature film script, tentatively titled Jesse’s Girl, is currently in development.
Laura considers herself destined to create, and deeply enjoys getting lost in the world of film; she can’t wait for you to fall in love with the stories told by Caprius Films.
JUDGE
CESAR ERBA
Cesar Erba is a Chilean-Canadian filmmaker born and raised in Edmonton, AB. He is the Co-founder of Caprius Films and the Co-Director of the Crystalline Film Festival.
Cesar is an eclectic artist whose exhilarating journey has taken him all over Canada. He's had the privilege of living in Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto, Ontario. A Vancouver Film School graduate Cesar is considered a versatile artist with an extensive film, dance and musical theatre background. Cesar is known for his visual works in graphic design and portrait photography.
In 2021, Cesar's directorial debut, Reasons, was an official selection at the Toronto International Women Film Festival and a semi-finalist at Boden International film festival in Sweden. Reasons has also managed to pick up a few nominations for "Best Narrative Short" at London Shorts, "Best Live Action Short Film" at Paris Film Festival and won the "Award of Excellence" at Canadian Shorts Film Festival.
Cesar is always looking to use his creative voice to represent his LGBTQIA2S+ community as a proud queer artist and personify his native South American roots, giving the world a little piece of Chile through his projects.