Desh Fernando is a multi-disciplinary filmmaker with a passion for creating multi-media films. He graduated with a BFA from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in 2005, where he also completed two years of contemporary dance training and choreography at Concordia’s Dance Department. His dance film, “Lola & Me”, is a 21-minute short with original, site-specific choreography by Fernando himself. It was funded by the National Film Board of Canada and Bravo! Television, and recieved the Istvan Kantor Award for Innovation. In 2007, Fernando completed an internship at Galafilm as an Assistant to Producer Michael Kronish, which was funded by the Canadian Film and Television Production Association. He has collaborated with renowned choreographer and multi-media artist Michael Montanaro, on a on a multitude of movement based video projects. Their current work in progress is a short dance film series entitled Dances for Small Spaces. More recently Fernando has co-founded a dance film company called Nacando Productions with dancer and choreogreapher Teoma Naccarato. Nacando made their public debut in April 2008 with Surfacing, a site-specific dance film to premier at the Vue Sur La Relève Festival. Fernando is currently involved in movement and technology based research with Dr. Sha Xin Wei at the Topological Lab Media in Montreal. In all of his work, Fernando is interested in exploring the integration of dance choreography and film with other elements of multi-media, making dance more tangible and accessible to a diverse audience.