Nadine Pequeneza
Nadine Pequeneza is an award-winning documentary director-producer, fiction screenplay writer and the founder of HitPlay Productions in Toronto. Over the past 10 years, her films have garnered 12 Canadian Screen Award nominations, including a CSA for Best Writing; the Gold Hugo from the Chicago International Film Festival and Sichuan Festival’s Gold Panda Special Jury Award. She is a 3-time nominee for the Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary. HitPlay's films have premiered at Hot Docs, VIFF, DocEdge, Ji.hlava and other notable festivals.
Pequeneza’s fiction screenplays are based on more than two decades of filming true stories around the world. Her first feature screenplay 1047 DAYS was a semi-finalist for the Humanitas New Voices Fellowship 2023, and the adapted short was selected for the CFC/Netflix Calling Card Accelerator. Her second feature RARE EARTH was selected for Stowe Story Labs, Athena Writers Lab and the Alfred P. Sloane Fellowship 2025. Her latest dramatic TV pilot DESCENT was a top-10 finalist in Final Draft’s Big Break Competition 2025 and has been selected for The Writers Lab Canada 2026.
HitPlay is currently in production on three feature documentaries: an undisclosed hybrid documentary (Ford Foundation, Perspective Fund, StoryBoard Collective), a Canada-Spain co-production SEEING GREEN (Telus, Knowledge Network, CMF POV, Telefilm, Redford Center, ICAA, ICEC, Caixa) and a Denmark-Canada co-production ACCOUNTERS OF WAR (DK, DFI, CBC, CMF, Rogers).
Pequeneza is an alumnus of The Redford Center grantee program for environmental storytelling and The Fledgling Fund’s Engagement Lab for audience outreach and film distribution. She is immediate past Chair of the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC), a member of DOC, Canadian Media Producers Association, Directors Guild of Canada and the International Documentary Association.
