Vox Popular is a not-for-profit Festival in Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada and is the evolution of the Bay Street Film Festival. Vox Popular will celebrate its 21st annual festival September 2025 held at the Definitely Superior Art Gallery- 115 Cumberland St North.
Vox Popular programs all genres of film – documentary, features, shorts, and experimental – made in Northwestern Ontario, Canada and internationally.
The annual festival and year-round programming connects professional and independent filmmakers with other artists and to audiences of all ages and interests by showing films, facilitating creative and professional development and multidisciplinary arts performance in an accessible, inclusive, friendly environment.
We have screened over 946 films and hosted over 178 visiting filmmakers from across Canada and around the world. Sparking countless discussions in our Q&As, Master Classes and hands-on workshops with media creators!
Vox Popular follows CARFAC and IMAA rates for professional Canadian artist’s fees. Each year we try to provide up to 10 travel grants to help subsidize travel expenses of out-of-town filmmakers, allowing them the opportunity to come to Thunder Bay to present their film, participate in Q&A’s, lead master classes and most importantly, to interact and celebrate media arts of all genres.
Thunder Bay is located on Lake Superior between Toronto, Ontario, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, north-east of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and it is serviced by a national airport. Be sure to check out www.thunderbay.ca for more information about the city and region we call home. Vox Popular acknowledges that our office and festival are on the traditional territory of the Anishnaabe People, and in the area of the Robinson Superior Treaty (1850).
Since 2020, we have presented films virtually in addition to our in person events. As we move to the post-COVID era, we continue to screen select films on ResearchTV.ca for 5 days following the in person event. This allows immune compromised people to experience the festival from their home and creates greater accessibility to the films. Filmmakers have no obligation to be a part of the online portion of the festival and we can geo block and/or cap off views if necessary. It is a wonderful way to reach larger audiences.
Our Yearly Programing
Main Programming – Average of 25 films will be selected from our jury for presentation at our annual festival. All genres of film – documentary, features, shorts, and experimental made in Northwestern Ontario, Canada and internationally are accepted.
Definitely Superior Art Gallery + Vox Popular Media Arts Festival have joined forces to co-present an annual regional juried exhibition to include 50+ regional contemporary artists.
Pop-Up Programming –Artists, collectives, and organizations celebrating and bringing film to Thunder Bay.
Education Programming– Workshops and masterclasses for new generation filmmakers to gain experience in research, pre-production, production, post-production and presentation of film in a professional and fun environment.
Our Team
Creative Director
Adrien Harpelle
Adrien Harpelle grew up in a family of filmmakers, he has been on film sets his whole life. He is a professional music producer, recording/mix engineer, composer, and award winning filmmaker. A bilingual (English, French) artist who creates music and film with a focus on documentary, sound design and composition. Adrien is also a performing artist, who has toured across central and eastern Canada with acts as a guitarist, bassist, and singer.
Artistic Curator
Alyssa Kusik
Alyssa Kusik is a multi-disciplinary artist from Thunder Bay, Ontario. She began volunteering for the festival 10 years ago and has now taken over the role of graphics and general coordinating. Alyssa is a practicing filmmaker for the last 6 years and is a visual artist having presented her artwork at various galleries/exhibitions.
Artistic Curator
Elizabeth Nunn
Liz Nunn is an Anthropology undergraduate student at Lakehead University with a passion for art and community. Liz first started volunteering with the Vox Popular in 2021, and has since moved from being a volunteer, to a summer student, to now a coordinator and administrator with the organization. She also works with other film companies and not-for-profit organizations as an administrator and a bookkeeper.
Our Board of Directors
Chair
Ryan La Via
Ryan La Via is an award-winning filmmaker and a graduate of the Confederation College Film Production program in Thunder Bay, ON, Canada.
In 2014, Ryan became part of the Guinness Book of World Records under the category of “Most Screenwriters on a Theatrically Distributed Film.” His script was chosen as 1 of 50 winners of the ‘Create 50’ screenwriting competition based out of London, England. Nearly 3,000 scripts were entered with Ryan being the ONLY Canadian to win the international competition.
In 2020, Ryan completed his first feature length documentary titled CUP CONFIDENTIAL. It tells the tale of a local semi-pro hockey team and what they meant to Thunder Bay in the early 90’s. The film was extremely well received and was rented online in over 10 countries worldwide and in over 100 cities.
Treasurer
Marcus Agombar
Starting with Vox Popular in 2017 as the Festival Administrative Intern, in 2018 he took charge as Festival Director, After stepping down in 2020 Marcus joined the board as Treasurer. Marcus is an Honours Bachelor of Commerce graduate from Lakehead University with a major in Management Information Systems. He now is the Chief Operating Officer at the Thunder Bay Museum! Marcus is also one of the co-founders of BaySafe Harm Reduction which is a non-profit grassroots organization in Thunder Bay. Outside of work Marcus is a DJ under the alias of ICOSA.
Member
Martin King
Martin King is a film Director and artist. A Broadcasting and Film graduate of Confederation College. He directed his first film “Wake Up” in 2017. Following the popular short film “God’s Park” in 2018. An active animator and visual artist, Martin also acted in community theater in the plays “Death of a Salesman” 2016 and “Mamma Mia” in 2019.
Member
Dianne Brothers
Dianne Brothers has now been involved in filmmaking in Thunder Bay for nearly a decade. Each of her films has been more ambitious than the last. She currently has a number of projects in development. She is a writer and producer on an animated film adaptation of Sheila Burnford’s children’s book Mr. Noah and the Second Flood, a book, published in 1973, that foresaw the impending climate disaster awaiting the world. She is also in post-production on a short comedy film focused on wedding toasts.
Thank you to our amazing volunteers!
Like many non-profits, Vox Popular could not thrive without its team of dedicated volunteers helping with events year-round!
Put your enthusiasm for film and community to good use. Become a part of the team of dedicated volunteers that work together to share the festival’s multi-leveled programming and outreach!
All positions require dependability, a positive attitude, the ability to work independently or with a team. Receive a complimentary festival pass and the chance to interact with filmmakers and festival-goers!
To be contacted for volunteering at the 2025 Vox Popular Media Arts Festival, please email us at Voxpoptbay@gmail.com or through Volunteer Thunder Bay!