Sandra Cunningham, President and co-founder of Strada Films, has been elected as the new chair of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association. Cunningham was elected by the new board of the trade association, and her appointment will be approved at the CFTPA’s annual general meeting in Banff on June 9th. Cunningham replaces veteran producer Ira Levy of Breakthrough Films and Television.

“In my career within film and more recently television documentary both in Canada and internationally, I am continually impressed by the central idea that content producers are content producers no matter what the stripe (or discipline). I view the opportunity to act as Chair as an important opportunity to champion our similarities no-matter the delivery system as a leading voice for our profession and industry.” said Cunningham.

“The new CFTPA Board of Directors clearly understands the incredible amount of knowledge and experience Sandra brings to the organization by selecting her to Chair the Board. Sandra is highly respected within Canada and abroad, and is known to be extremely hard working and dedicated to this industry.” said Guy Mayson, President and CEO, CFTPA. “Over the course of the next two years, we will see landmark changes in the political environment.

“We are already witnessing fundamental change in the environment in which we operate, an environment that is at once increasingly consolidated and fragmented. Sandra understands these challenges and will lead us as we navigate toward building a stronger industry.” said Ira Levy, past Chair of the CFTPA.

Cunningham brings over twenty five years of experience in international feature film and television documentary to the association. She has worked in distribution, production, and was, for two years, a programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival. Sandra is an active member the Canadian production community sitting on a number of advisory committees including many CFTPA committees and initiatives. She co-chaired the Feature Film committee for the last two years.

Strada Film’s inaugural feature film, John L’Ecuyer’s Curtis’s Charm, based on an original story by Jim Carroll premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, garnering a special jury citation. Robert Lepage’s Possible Worlds (2001), starring Tilda Swinton and Tom McCamus, had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and went on to win numerous international awards.

Since 2001 Sandra Cunningham has co-produced a series of feature films with Robert Lantos of Serendipity Point Films. The first, Atom Egoyan’s Ararat premiered in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to win international film festival awards and the 2003 Genie for Best Motion Picture. Norman Jewison’s The Statement was next, starring Michael Caine, Tilda Swinton, and Jeremy Northam. Istvan Szabo’s Being Julia earned its star Annette Bening both a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination Where the Truth Lies, directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, and Alison Lohman, had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005.

Strada Films is currently in production on a theatrical feature documentary entitled “27” about the lives and tragic deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. In addition to “27”, the company has a number of feature film and television projects in development including: An adaptation of the influential Margaret Atwood novel, The Edible Woman, a television series based on the work of successful comedy troupe The Imponderables and the first novel by Montreal based Lebanese author, Rawi Hage, DeNiro’s Game set in Beirut and Paris which was shortlisted for both the 2007 Giller Prize as well as the Governor General’s Award for Literature.