ABOUT US
Barrie Dunn founded Pictou Twist Pictures after spending 15 years at the helm of Trailer Park Productions, creators of the hit franchise, Trailer Park Boys. Our focus at Pictou Twist is on political dramas and thrillers, stories of individual and collective struggle, and irreverent comedies. We have several feature films and television projects in development with our Canadian, Latin American, European and American partners.
BARRIE DUNN
Producer/Writer/Director
As President of Pictou Twist Pictures, Barrie is responsible for overseeing the development and production of the company's projects with its Canadian, American, Latin American and European partners.
Barrie recently wrote and directed the feature film, The Madones, the story of three sisters, one of whom suffers from schizophrenia. The film is scheduled for theatrical release in the fall of 2023.
Current projects in development include The Corsican, the true and irreverent story of the relationship between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pascal Paoli, Corsica's true national hero; War Divide, the fact-based story of a Canadian-Ukrainian woman's perilous journey to Ukraine to rescue her Ukrainian mother and Russian father from the destruction of Mariupol during the Russian invasion of Ukraine; The Last Great Men - the story of the relationship between Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, Bill Graham, and U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, as they struggled to avert the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Last Great Men is based on Graham's memoir, Call of the World; The Havoc Sisters of Sissiboo Falls, the story of three sisters, one of whom returns to her hometown after her release from prison for the murder of her father, a murder she claims she did not commit, but knows who did.
Barrie is a co-creator, writer and producer of the hit international franchise, Trailer Park Boys. He co-produced and wrote the CBC TV mini-series, Canada Russia '72 and the feature, Afghan Luke.
Barrie holds a degree in Law from Dalhousie University, where he has frequently lectured on entertainment and sports law issues, and is a graduate of the Acting Program of the Drama Studio London.
PATRICK GRAHAM
Producer/Writer
Patrick is a Toronto-based writer who has written for American, British and Canadian magazines and newspapers on conflicts in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, including Afghanistan before and after 9/11.
During the U.S. invasion of Iraq, where he lived for two years, Graham was the London Observer correspondent and wrote about the war for The New York Times Magazine, Outside, The Guardian, The National Post, The Walrus Magazine and The Globe and Mail.
His June 2004 cover story for Harper's Magazine 'Beyond Fallujah: A year with the Iraqi resistance,' a groundbreaking article about the tribal insurgency in Anbar Province, won an Overseas Press Club of America award for foreign magazine reporting.
Graham has written for Harper's about Colombia and the Arab Awakening, and published an eBook with Doubleday about the war in Libya.
He co-wrote the feature film, AFGHAN LUKE. Loosely based on his reporting in Afghanistan, the film starred Nick Stahl and Lewis Black.
Graham won the Kurt Schork Award for freelance journalism from Columbia University and has an M.A in Classics from Dalhousie University. He received an honourary doctorate from the University of King’s College in 2016.
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RENÉ GONZÁLEZ
Writer/Consultant
René Gonzalez is a writer on The Cuban Five and Patria o Muerte as well as a consultant on Cuban and Latin American issues.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, René moved back to Havana with his parents after the Cuban Revolution. He was five years old.
As a young man, he studied to become a Professor of Physics. Later, after his military service, he volunteered to serve in Angola as a tank gunner. In 1982, he graduated as a civil pilot and served as a pilot instructor in Havana until December 1990.
He was recruited by Cuban State Security to go on a covert mission to Florida to infiltrate counter-revolutionary groups. His mission was to collect incontrovertible evidence of acts of terrorism committed against Cuba by Florida-based anti-Castro terrorist organizations. His wife, Olga Salanueva, joined the mission in 1996.
In 1998, René and his compatriots Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, and Antonio Guerrero, were arrested by the FBI on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage and murder.
On December 6, 2000, the Cuban Five, as they became known around the world, faced a 17–month trial, referred to by international legal scholars and Nobel Laureates, as a “travesty of justice”. René was sentenced to 15 years in federal U.S. prison.
After serving his full sentence, René returned to Cuba in 2013. His colleagues, Gerardo Hernandez, who was serving two life sentences, Antonio Guerrero and Ramon Labanino were granted clemency by President Barack Obama in December 2014 and returned to Cuba. Fernando Gonzalez who had served his full sentence also returned to Havana. René and colleagues in the The Cuban Five were awarded “Heroes of the Republic of Cuba” by President Raul Castro.
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IRMA GONZÁLEZ SALANUEVA
Director of Development
Latin America
Irma is Director of Development for Latin America and a producer for Pictou Twist Pictures. A graduate of the University of Havana with an undergraduate degree (Summa Cum Laude) and a Masters degree in Psychology, Irma is currently working on her Ph.D. She has worked on several major film productions, including the U.S. blockbuster Fast and Furious 8, the Chinese reality show, Encounter, and has served as a Producer, Consultant and Translator for the feature film, The Cuban Five, and the television series, Patria, both currently in development with Pictou Twist.
She has worked as a producer and translator for Vedado Films, and was production co-ordinator for Madonna’s 2017 trip to Cuba to celebrate her 58thbirthday. She has also served as personal assistant, translator and coordinator for actor Joe Manganiello and racing driver Rodin Younessi during their recent visits to Cuba.
In addition to her considerable work in the entertainment industry, Irma has served as a translator for several organizations, including Logan University and Royal Caribbean. She also translated the script of The Cuban Five for both Pictou Twist and Cuba’s film agency, The Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC).
She has studied film production with renowned Cuban producer, Frank Cabrera, and is a member of the Cuban Associations for Audiovisuals (ACAV). She represented Pictou Twist Pictures at the recent Bogotà Audiovisual Market where she helped develop productive relationships with senior Colombian producers, filmmakers, actors and writers.
Irma is fluent in both Spanish and English (she lived four years in the USA), and has a working knowledge of French.
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YURIY SOBESHCHAKOV
Director of Development
Europe East
As Pictou Twist's Director of Development for Europe East, Yuriy is responsible for overseeing the development of feature films, series and documentaries under the auspices of the various international co-production treaties with our European partners.
A former pilot with the Soviet Naval Air Force, Yuriy immigrated to Canada in the early 1990s where he quickly established a career in the commercial airline industry that included several years as an ice pilot in the Canadian North.
Yuriy joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 2007 as a pilot; in 2011 he was transferred to the Commander of MARLANT where as a Policy Analyst he advised on strategic and operational missions and operations. His two secondments to the Strategic Joint Staff Office quickly led to his promotion to the Trinity Intelligence Department as an Intelligence Analyst.
Yuriy has written several fiction and non-fiction novels and scholarly articles. He has also worked as an actor, including his critically-acclaimed performance as Soviet head hockey coach, Vsevolod Bobrov, in the four-hour drama, Canada Russia '72, for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Yuriy is fluent in English, Ukrainian, Russian and German.
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