Sonja Ruebsaat & Dena Ashbaugh
Sonja Ruebsaat and Dena Ashbaughare showing their brilliant ‘insider’ film
‘NO Numbers’ at TC9
Sonja Ruebsaat is an emerging film maker originally from Vancouver. She focuses primarily on creative storytelling and documenting personal stories in a way that brings hope to the viewer. From her personal video work to her corporate work to her documentary projects, this message of hope is the vein that runs through all of them. Sonja is passionate about the movement towards conscious media and encouraging advertisers to be accountable for any media that negatively impacts people’s well being.
Sonja is mother to two young boys, both born in and around the process of creating No Numbers. She graduated from Vancouver Film School’s New Media program in 2000. She has since worked on many projects ranging from charity fund-raisers, short films, documentaries and corporate and government video projects. The making of No Numbers has opened her to the many possibilities for healing inherent in telling one’s story.
Sonja is planning to further explore the application of creativity in the treatment of people coming through eating disorders and addictions.
“As we become aware of ourselves as storytellers, we realize that what we understand and imagine about ourselves is a story. And when we know all this, we can use our stories to heal and make ourselves whole.” – Susan Wittig Albert
Dena Ashbaugh never imagined she’d become a filmmaker, but as life happened so did this documentary. After 5 years of modeling in Asia, Dena returned to Vancouver, Canada, where she went to Simon Fraser University to study an eclectic mix of topics that eventually amounted to a joint major in Arts & Cultural Studies and Anthropology. While in school she also began acting in film and television. She has made many notable television appearances on shows such as DaVinci’s Inquest, Psyche, Reaper, Andromeda, and Smallville. She has also done over 30 commercials, including most recently a T mobile spot with Catherine Zeta Jones. Her work within media, an education that caused her question the very world she lived in, and a long and arduous struggle with anorexia put Dena in the director’s chair. This is her first film and it’s a good fit. After all, the stories that drive No Numbers: Identity Beyond Measure are the stories she knows most intimately.