Alyssa Kusik
Alyssa Kusik is a multidisciplinary artist from Northernwestern Ontario. She graduated from Introduction to Pre-Animation (2015) and Fine Arts (2016) at Algonquin College. Alyssa is a videographer, graphic artist and painter. She often collaborates with local filmmakers, bands and fellow artists to make animations, documentary films and music videos.
Marlon Legarde
Marlon Legarde is a musician and visual artist. He is a bassist and songwriter in his bands Visual Past and Rider Waites. Marlon designed the Vox Popular Media Arts logo and poster for the 2021 festival.
Adrien Harpelle
Since graduating from the Music Industry Arts program at Algonquin College in 2017, I have composed the score for 3 half hour documentaries, and 10+ short films in a variety of musical styles. I have produced 5 studio albums, 3 EPs, and 2 singles with various artists. My album I.R. Idiot – Spore charted across Canada for 5 months in 2019. As a performing artist I have toured across central and eastern Canada with acts as a guitarist, bassist, and singer.
My latest accomplishment was being the editor and composer of Toxic Time Bomb, a half hour documentary about water contamination in Elmira, ON.
Ryan La Via
Chair
Ryan La Via is an award-winning filmmaker born and raised in Thunder Bay. When not busy working on his next film project, Ryan can often be seen spending time with his family, friends, or hacking up a golf course. Ryan’s latest documentary CUP CONFIDENTIAL can be watched for free online at www.CupConfidential.com.
Marcus Agombar
Treasurer
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 father of two children and 5 pets, and a DJ under the alias of ICOSA.
Martin King
Member
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.
Kelly Saxberg
Festival Founder
Kelly Saxberg founded Bay Street Film Festival in 2005 to celebrate and screen local independent films.She is a film producer, director, editor and cinematographer who has worked on over 100 films. She works in English, French, Spanish and Finnish. She has also mentored dozens of emerging filmmakers in Thunder Bay through Flash Frame workshops and collaborative film projects since 2001.
Like many non-profits, Vox Popular could not thrive without its team of dedicated volunteers helping with events year-round. Thank you for your many contributions to our festival!
