Juliet Belisario is a Toronto-based filmmaker whose work explores the inner lives of children and women through a sensorial, intimate lens, grounded in social realism and subjective experience.

Her narrative short film Cocoon‍, received a jury honourable mention at TIFF Next Wave, and won the Outstanding Local Film award at Breakthroughs Film Festival. The film also screened at LATAFF, and as part of National Canadian Film Day, in conversation with Sook-Yin Lee’s Paying For It. Guy Maddin described Cocoon as a “charged up and enchanting childhood gender reverie”, and praised Belisario’s “great control over tone”.

Her autobiographical documentary short film, Willow World, was highlighted as a programmer’s pick at NFFTY, where it was dubbed a “direct, immediate reflection of childhood trauma”.

Her latest narrative short film, Devils in the Bush, received a jury honourable mention at Inside Out Film Festival. The film was lauded by Chase Joynt as “beautifully shot and considered, with much nuance in framing and all that goes unsaid.”

Cocoon is now available online. Willow World and Devils in the Bush are currently on the festival circuit.

Photo by Katja Debourbon