Trivia

He was the second unit director for Eli Roth's Thanksgiving and Corin Hardy's Whistle.

He won a "best short film" award three years in a row at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival.

He avoids CGI, opting for in-camera and Practical effects whenever possible.

Has expressed interest in directing a Nightmare on Elm Street film and considers Freddy Krueger one of the most inventive monsters in cinema.

He has collaborated with Director Eli Roth in a variety of projects in both television and film.

His approach to film directing involves creating "optically accurate" storyboards and pre-visualized animatics for almost every shot of his films.

He formed production studio, Bokeh Studios, with director Rob Brunner, which focuses on producing film, television, and branded content.

After 6 years of development, Carved was filmed, edited and delivered within five months.

During the production of Carved, Justin created storyboards for every single shot of the film.

Often cites The Shining, Aliens, Evil Dead 2 and Requiem For a Dream as heavily influential.

Between 2016 - 2019, Justin's short horror films won over 100 awards in festivals worldwide.

He became "obsessed" with filmmaking while in high-school and made two feature films back to back when he was 17 and 18 years old that were heavily inspired by the films of Quinten Tarantino, Sam Raimi, James Cameron, Robert Rodrigez and Tony Scott.

Justin's 2018 short film Carved was the sole Canadian entry selected for the inaugural Huluween Film Fest competition, alongside eight other films from around the world. Based on the highest scores from a panel of expert judges, Carved won the $10,000 grand prize and a development deal to create a feature-length version.

Justin's fascination with filmmaking began in high school after taking a "Communications Technology" course. The course's teacher, Mr. Dale Andrews, recognized Justin's talent and hired him at just 18 years old to work for his production company, Digital Overdrive, as a director, cinematographer, and editor. Over the years, Justin and Dale continued to collaborate, with Dale producing many of Justin's short film projects, including Latched, Queen of the Island, and Carved. Dale also secured financing and produced Justin's first feature film, Making Monsters.

The idea for Carved was sparked during a staff pumpkin carving contest at the Toronto Zoo, where he worked many years ago as an exhibit designer.

He is a father of two boys, Bowen Trent Harding and Myles Earl Harding.

He made a short film with his wife and child at his family cottage over the course of two weekends that premiered at TIFF in 2017.

When not working on films, Justin enjoys caring for his young bearded dragon, a reptilian companion that often joins him in his writing sessions.