A WIDC 2003 Director Alumna, Toronto filmmaker Anita Doron was born in Carpathia of the former Soviet Union. She is a published poet, storywriter, and mountain climber, who ventured into filmmaking at an early age.

At age 12, armed with a tape-recorder and a super8 camera she made her first film - a documentary about a polluted river that raised the ire of the Soviet bureaucracy, who attempted to shut down and sabotage the production. When the Iron Curtain lifted, she immigrated to Israel, where after two years as a sergeant in the Israeli Army she went on to realize her filmmaking ambitions. 

Following extensive travel in Europe and Asia, she moved to Canada, where in 2001 she graduated with Honours from the Film Studies Program at Ryerson University, winning the Norman Jewison Filmmaker Award, the Harvey Hart Director Award, and the Applied Arts Award of Excellence along the way. Upon graduation, Anita interned at Serendipity Point Films and worked as a researcher for Atom Egoyan and Philip Barker on the epic film 'Ararat'. In 2002 Anita received funding from the Ontario Arts Council and the National Film Board of Canada for her first short, NOT A FISH STORY and her first feature screenplay, FATA MORGANA, was accepted into the Toronto International Film Festival's Screenwriter Mentorship Program.

Anita's second film ELLIOT SMELIOT received an OMDC Calling Card grant.  It premiered at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival an screened at all the major film festivals across Canada.  In 2004 Anita was named one of the top 10 Canadian filmmakers to look out for by Toronto's NO Magazine.  In 2005 she completed principal photography on her first feature film THE END OF SILENCE and is now developing a television series for CBC with producer Fred Fuchs.

For more on Anita visit her Avalanche Films web site.