Soiled Dove

Coles recently completed her short film, "The Curtain," that she wrote, directed, produced, and starred; funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council with support from ACTRA Toronto and the WGC. "The Curtain" won the WeSCREENShorts Screenplay Finalist Award.

As a writer/director, Coles works with scripted and unscripted material. She enjoys compelling, character-driven stories in both fiction and unscripted projects and gravitates to realism and nuanced characters. When working with scripted material, she understands the actors’ artistic processes intuitively, having trained and worked as an actor.

Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates supported the script development of her debut female-driven feature screenplay, "Soiled Dove;" winner of 12 international finalist screenwriter awards and Award Winner of the Big Apple Film Festival and Screenplay Competition (2024). Coles also won Honourable Mention at the Stowe Sidewalk Narrative Lab (2023), where she received the The Law Firm of Stacey A. Davis Fellowship. Her multi-award-winning debut feature documentary “Melody Makers” which she wrote, directed and produced was released in 2019, along with a companion app.

Coles dedicated 18 years to modern dance as a choreographer/performer and arts educator before transitioning from the stage to the screen in 2001 with her debut film, “In the Refrigerator,” which she wrote, directed, and starred in. It screened at 35 international film festivals and garnered 13 awards: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Short Film, Best Film, Best Debut Filmmaker, Best Avant Gard and the Grand Jury Award: Filmmaker in an Acting Role. She has been making films ever since!