Team

Barb Taylor created Coyle Films to produce animated films about LGBTQ+ life, taking advantage of her award winning animation and digital experience.

Barb’s animated films and digital stories have screened in over 300 film festivals worldwide. She is currently working on her first animated feature, Queen Maeve based on a legendary queer Irish leader, which has received support from Canadian Media Fund, Canada Arts Council and Ontario Creates. Her animated short The Butch and the Baby Daddy, about a lesbian seeking to have a baby, is currently streaming on CBC Gem.

Previous to that she created a hand painted animated short Bobbi and Sheelagh about a lesbian who meets a mythological creature which was funded by the National Film Board and Ontario Arts Council. This film screened around the world including at Tricky Women Animation in Vienna and Fairytales in Calgary.  Barb’s film Tomboy exploring gender expression was the recipient of the CBC Canadian Reflection Award and Inside Out Up and Coming Artist Award among others.

Karleen is a Board member of Coyle Films, the Co-Creator of The Butch and the Baby Daddy and screenwriter for How to Get a Girl Pregnant. She is the author of Lambda Literary Award finalists Are You a Boy or a Girl? and How to Get a Girl Pregnant; Tomboys and Other Gender Heroes; her new middle grade book The Street Belongs to Us, and numerous short stories and essays.

She wrote the award-winning animated film Tomboy and has been recognized by the American Library Association and the Vice Versa Awards for Excellence in the Gay and Lesbian Press. Her short film Butch Coyolxauhqui looking at queer body image, fatphobia, and reclamation was created in 2016.  She is the screenwriter for the award-winning animation short Tomboy (2009).  Recently she was Script Editor for Barb Taylor’s films Bobbi and Sheelagh and Queen Maeve.  Her short stories and personal essays have been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, including “Downtown” in Queers Were Here: Heroes and Icons of Queer Canada (2016).

She is professor of education, gender, and social justice at Trent University. Raised in Los Angeles, she lives in Toronto with her partner and daughter.

Rose is a member of the Coyle Films Board of Directors, is Producer on a number of the teams projects and also is Director on The Debut and Donor #3076. She is Pinay lesbian, mother, filmmaker, cultural curator, creative strategist and community artivist. Her work is grounded and guided by her lived experience and for over 30 years (un)learning, navigating, and advocating for social equity and justice in partnership with diverse communities.

Rose graduated in Film Studies at the University of Toronto and worked as an independent producer/director with Isis Productions, with work screened at TIFF and Hot Docs.

Alongside her creative practice she worked as an anti-racist educator with the Toronto District School Board, an anti-violence advocate in Women Shelters and later as the Director of Community Programming at Planned Parenthood Toronto promoting health equity. From 2010-2021, her life/work came full circle integrating art and equity as the Program Director for SKETCH. Over 20 years of senior management experience, responsible for overall Organizational Strategic Direction including the development of the Programmatic Frameworks, Community Engagement Strategies and Equity Strategy; Development of Research and Evaluation Frameworks and Strategic Sector Partnerships; Inform and implementation of Organizational and Sector policies.

Curating and co-creating with diverse artists and communities, giving voice to issues that are important to shaping a more equitable world has been a privilege.