(Jason Gilmore, Alex Jansen, Richard Poplak, Nick Marinkovich)

KENK is produced and conceived by Alex Jansen, based on documentary footage shot by Jansen and filmmaker/designer Jason Gilmore. It is written by acclaimed journalist and avid cyclist Richard Poplak, whose books include The Sheikh’s Batmobile: In Pursuit of American Pop Culture in the Muslim World and Ja, No, Man: Growing Up White in Apartheid-Era South Africa with Penguin, and it is illustrated by Toronto based artist Nick Marinkovich, who adapted Sony Picture’s Underworld and has done various comics with Marvel, IDW and Image. KENK is produced and published under Pop Sandbox.

ALEX JANSEN (CONCEPT, PRODUCER):

Pop Sandbox is owned and operated by Alex Jansen. Prior to launching Pop Sandbox, Jansen spent four years managing home entertainment with Mongrel Media, Canada’s premiere independent and foreign film distribution company. There, Jansen oversaw marketing and production for more than 250 releases and built the operational system that continues to drive the division. Some of the releases he handled include The Corporation, Water, Manufactured Landscapes and The Festival Collection series for Blockbuster.

In addition to his extensive distribution background, Jansen was Co-Producer of the feature film Walk Backwards, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2001 and was distributed by ThinkFilm (March of the Penguins, Born into Brothels). Jansen is also Founder and Chair of the Kingston Canadian Film Festival, the largest stand-alone showcase of feature films from across Canada, which just celebrated it’s tenth anniversary.

Jansen studied Business – Marketing at Durham College and University Centre, where he received the Governor General’s Award for academics, followed by Film Studies at Queen’s University.

RICHARD POPLAK (WRITER):

Richard Poplak was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and immigrated to Canada with his family a few short months before Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990. Richard trained as a filmmaker and fine artist at Montreal’s Concordia University and has produced and directed numerous short films, music videos and commercials and has been nominated for five Much Music Video Awards.

Now a full-time writer, Poplak can be found learning to play polo, chasing Big Game in Africa, investigating German sub-sub cultures in Namibia, eating at TGI Fridays in the Middle East, bowling in Kazakhstan, racing Mercedes sports sedans in Russia – all for publications as diverse as The Walrus, THIS Magazine, Toronto Life, The Globe & Mail, CBC.ca Arts Online, Bicycling and Maverick. He works as an occasional roving pop-cultural commentator for CBC Radio’s Q.

His first book, the highly acclaimed Ja, No, Man: Growing Up White in Apartheid-era South Africa, is published by Penguin Publishing; his follow-up, entitled The Sheikh’s Batmobile: In Pursuit of American Pop-Culture in the Muslim World, is also published by Penguin Publishing and released in spring, 2009. Ja, No, Man was longlisted for the Alan Paton Non-Fiction prize, shortlisted for the University of Johannesburg Literary Award and voted one of the Top-10 books of 2007 by Now Magazine. Poplak has won South Africa’s Media-24 Best Feature Writing Award, and has been nominated for a National Magazine Award in Canada.

JASON GILMORE (FILMMAKER, DESIGNER):

Jason Gilmore is a Toronto-based filmmaker, illustrator and graphic designer. Over the course of his career, he has worked on a wide array of projects, including music videos, trailers, documentary projects, t-shirt, poster and DVD package design.

After graduating from the Film Studies program at Queen’s University in 2003, Gilmore moved to Toronto by way of Ottawa. He founded Urgency Company – an independent post-production/design boutique specializing in the marketing and promotion of artists and artistic projects.

Gilmore has since had the opportunity to work with some of the most talented members of the Canadian film industry, including Sarah Polley, Joshua Jackson and acclaimed director Deepa Mehta. His long list of video productions includes over 20 feature film trailers, as well as several DVD Special Features for a number of Mongrel Media DVD releases, including Cairo Time, One Week, the Atom Egoyan-produced film Sabah, the Jennifer Baichwal documentary Manufactured Landscapes, and Deepa Mehta’s latest film Heaven on Earth. Gilmore’s first music video – created in 2008 for Ottawa hardcord band Sedatives – was chosen by director Bruce McDonald to be included on the DVD of his film The Tracey Fragments, starring Ellen Page.

NICK MARINKOVICH (ILLUSTRATOR):

Nick Marinkovich is a Toronto-based graphic artist and illustrator, and the son of Serbian and Macedonian parents who emigrated from the former Yugoslavia. Inspired by childhood stories from his dad about communist-era Yugoslavia and Russia, Marinkovich maintains a key interest in the history of the region that specifically attracted him to KENK.

Marinkovich first broke in the design scene in 2003 with the graphic novel adaptation of Sony Pictures’ Underworld and the ensuing Underworld: Red in Tooth and Claw miniseries by IDW Publications. He has since illustrated the interactive web comic When the Hulk Attacks for Marvel Comics, as well as the series Nightwolf (Devils Due Publications) and Impaler (Image Comics), which was nominated for Best Illustrated Narrative in 2006 by the International Horror Guild.

Marinkovich also did the stunning animations in the award-winning residential school documentary, Muffins for Granny, and he is currently working with Anita Doron on an interactive musical for the Canadian Film Centre.

CRAIG SMALL (ANIMATION DIRECTOR):

Craig Small is Director of the forthcoming KENK animated film, as well as Creative Director and co-founder of The Juggernaut. He’s an accomplished director, broadcast designer, animator, editor, visual effects supervisor, and photographer.

His calling came at a young age after he crashed his first Lite-Brite with a 500-watt photo bulb. He vowed never to repeat the mistakes of his youth but his love affair with the pixel has continued ever since. After spending most of his teens airbrushing custom vans and hacking video games, he has since harnessed his creative and technical skills for the greater good, mastering every tool he encounters along the way, from photocopiers to Infernos.

Craig worked at a variety of top design and post houses around Toronto for over a decade before starting The Juggernaut in 2002. Craig’s versatility has made him a highly sought after player for broadcasters, production studios and every major agency on an A-list string of accounts. He created commercial identities for Labatt Blue, Bell, BMW Mini as well the iconic Joe Canada “I Am Canadian” spot for Molson.
His title designs have twice been nominated for Emmy Awards and he has collaborated with international design giants including David Carson and Paul Sych.

In addition to making things blink, Small is a maker who fiddles with hammers and other exotic tools, enjoys quality time with his talented wife and sons at their Haliburton hideout, and generally likes to have his hands occupied. Small is also a voting member of BDA (Broadcast Designers Association) and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.

POP SANDBOX (PRODUCTION, PUBLISHER):

Pop Sandbox is a multimedia production and publishing company with a central focus on graphic novels and film. It is a boutique operation centered on innovative and meaningful storytelling across platforms, from initial concept through production to eventual publication/distribution.

Pop Sandbox aims to bring together artists from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines into a creative environment that fosters innovation in both content and form.

Pop Sandbox was officially launched in 2008 and has 3 announced projects in production and several projects in development. Pop Sandbox recently won the National Film Board of Canada and TV Ontario’s Digital Calling Card Program to produce the Interactive Graphic Novel, The Next Day.