Sylvia D. HAMILTON is a multi award-winning filmmaker, writer, and educator who is known for her documentaries which explore the little known history, contributions and experiences of African Canadians. Her first two films, Black Mother Black Daughter and Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia, each garnered extensive critical and public praise, and opened a window upon the African Canadian experience for audiences in Canada and in venues as diverse as New York, Paris, Melbourne and Tokyo. Her one-hour documentary film, Portia White: Think On Me, is the first major cinematic view of the extraordinary life of the legendary Canadian contralto Portia White, known as ‘Canada’s Marian Anderson’. Her newest film, The Little Black School House, unearths the story of the women, men and children who studied and taught at Canada’s racially segregated schools. She has been an invited filmmaker and keynote speaker for conferences in variety of venues including Norway, Sierra Leone, Guadeloupe, the République de Mauritius (Indian Ocean), New York City, Kingston, Jamaica, Mexico City and Paris. In Canada, she has lectured and presented her work in a variety of settings – schools, libraries, conferences and festivals – from Happy Valley, Labrador to Nanaimo, BC. Major awards include a Gemini, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation’s Maeda Prize, the Progress Women of Excellence Award for Arts and Culture, the CBC Television Pioneer Award, Nova Scotia’s coveted Portia White Prize for Excellence in the Arts, and the Expression Awards/ Les Prix Expression - Trailblazer Award.