Martina Abrahams Ilunga is a multimedia storyteller and strategist. She's the founder of the platform and studio You Had Me at Black and executive producer of the podcast docuseries NATAL.

Onyx Èspri is a writer, director, and producer for both theatre and film. In addition to You Had Me at Black, she utilized her many hats to start BAM Productions, creating works influenced by social justice, world history, fantasy/mythology, and afro-futurism. Onyx's mission is to present a wide and unique range of multicultural representations of the Black experience outside the influence of the white gaze

Kip Andersen is the award-winning director/producer of the Netflix documentaries, What the Health, Cowspiracy, and Seaspiracy. Chris O’Connell is an action sports photographer and cofounder of Armada Skis. Kip and Chris met as children in Burke, Virginia and have been friends ever since.

Daniel Augustin is a Haitian-American actor, director, and writer born in Fort Lauderdale, FL. His journey behind the camera began as a PA who moonlighted as a content creator. His acting credits include Rap Sh!t (HBO), How I Met Your Father (Hulu), Grey's Anatomy (ABC), Dynasty (CW), David Makes Man (OWN), and Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu).

Sh'Kia is an American actress, writer, and producer born to an African American mother and Jamaican father. Her writing credits include the web series Cake (Peacock), Tough Love: Atlanta (MyCleoTV), and the web series Kinfolk. Her acting credits include Kold X Windy (AMC/WEtv), Atlanta (FX), The Game (Paramount+), Genius: Aretha Franklin (NatGeo), and Black Lightning (CW).

Dominican-born, L.A- raised, award-winning artist. Yohanna Baez won the UrbanWorld Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Best Screenplay and is coding an art installation about the attention economy.

Rell Battle, a DC native, is a writer & stand-up comedian who’s appeared on Conan and created the Comedy Central show Roast Battle. He was a series regular on CBS’ multi-camera comedy Superior Donuts, and recently sold a half-hour single-cam comedy to NBC. He currently stars on the Peacock network show Killing It opposite Craig Robinson.

Erica Eng is a Chinese American director based in Los Angeles. Her latest film “Americanized” screened at UrbanWorld, Newport Beach, and Atlanta Film Festival. She’s been hand-selected for Disney’s Launchpad program, where she will be mentored by executives from Marvel Studios as she directs a coming-of-age story for Disney+.

*Works-in-Progress Showcase Participant

Peter Byck is a director/producer of documentaries about climate change solutions and regenerative agriculture. Past work: carbon nation, Carbon Cowboys, and Garbage. Current: Roots So Deep. He teaches documentary filmmaking at ASU.

*Works-in-Progress Showcase Participant

Jalmer is a Salvadoran-born filmmaker who explores the Latinx diaspora through themes of family, national identity, belonging, and displacement in his work. He is a recent graduate of AFI.

*Indeed Rising Voices Filmmaker

Leon is the creator, writer, and director of the International Emmy®-nominated short form series People Like Us. Recently, he was selected for the 2022 Hillman Grad/Indeed: Rising Voices program.

*Indeed Rising Voices Filmmaker

Lloyd's recent short film “Same Old” was 1 of 9 films in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival and won HBO's Visionaries Award. He was named 30-under-30 by Marketing Mag for his commercial directing.

*Future Gold Film Fellow

DARKFIELD produces innovative immersive experiences at the forefront of technology and theatre using 360-degree binaural audio and sensory effects, location-based experiences, and digital work via the DARKFIELD App.

Mary Dauterman is a Brooklyn-based writer-director whose short films have screened at 40+ festivals. She's been commissioned by Adult Swim and Hulu to create short form comedic films.

Lexi is a producer based in NYC. She is currently in post production on Chestnut starring Natalia Dyer and Shudder’s The Stay starring Gayle Rankin and Molly Ringwald. She has screened at SXSW, Palm Springs, and Woodstock Film Festival and worked in partnership with Netflix, FX, Comedy Central, and Adult Swim.

Sydney, Mike, and Carl are a sketch comedy group based in New York. They have released over 50 videos online, garnering over 100 million views.

Rob Feld is a journalist, filmmaker, and instructor at NYU. His work has premiered at Tribeca, Palm Springs, and TIFF. He is a graduate of Cornell University.

James Folta is a writer and editor, who has written audio for Gimlet, Audible, and Calm; published short humor widely; and is the managing editor of Points In Case.

Antonia Forster is a Senior XR/VR/AR developer and immersive technology specialist; a TEDx speaker; and an award-winning advocate for women, LGBTQ+ people, and marginalised voices in tech.

Maria Fredriksson, Swedish director and co-founder of Stockholm-based Ballad Film. Her documentaries have been screened at festivals worldwide and are known for their ability to entertain with engaging storytelling.

*Works-in-Progress Showcase Participant

Theda Hammel has released three EPs (Very Great, SondHamm, and Partial Magic) under the name “HAMM.” She has a Masters in Music Technology from NYU Steinhardt.

Allie is a writer & producer based in Brooklyn. She graduated with a BFA in writing and film from Emerson College, from the Columbia Publishing Course at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, and is a member of the WGAW. Her work includes various television, film, and theater productions.

German is a writer, producer, director, and expert in emerging technologies such as VR. He founded 3DAR, a mixed visual arts company, in 2004. Very passionate about storytelling and great characters.

Carlos is an executive producer at 3DAR. He built his career working as creative director of La Campaña Publicidad in Argentina and also as part of the institutional relations of the Argentinian bank Credicoop. After graduating from film school, he deepened his studies in screenwriting and radio. Worked as a creative for over 50 TVC and some short films.

Ellie Heydon is a director with a focus on female-led comedy. Following several multi-award-winning short films, she is about to make her TV directorial debut with new family drama Dreamland, produced by Sky/Merman, and has recently been commissioned to co-create her own TV show with Monumental Television.

Lucy Heath is a multi-award-winning writer and actress. Her last film “Better” won the prestigious Iris Prize, and was featured on Channel 4 and Apple TV. Lucy has already received a Best Screenwriter nomination for “Pragma,” and she is currently in development as lead writer and attached to play the lead on Pragma the series with Monumental Television.

Nichole is an award-winning podcast producer, storyteller, and host of The Secret Adventures of Black People podcast. She’s performed multiple production roles for Dear Media, Radiotopia, Vox, and NPR.

iNK Stories is an entertainment studio in New York City producing award-winning, next-generation stories with divisions in Video Games, Film, and XR.

Prashanth Kamalakanthan is an Indian-American filmmaker. Trained at Duke University and NYU, he's currently on the festival circuit with his first feature while teaching at Brown University and VCU.

Artemis’ work spans scripted, documentary, and digital formats, but the vibe is usually tragicomedy and satire. She oversees film finance and creative development at the NYU Production Lab.

Winnie and Alex own Wolf at the Door Studios, a producer of premium narrative fiction podcasts for companies like Wondery, Blumhouse, Shondaland, Warner Brothers/DC Comics, Spotify, iHeart, and more.

Native Hawaiian writer-director Erin Lau is committed to creating empathy-forward AAPI and Indigenous stories.

*Future Gold Film Fellow

Kailee McGee is an artist, filmmaker, and writer. She makes content for screens of all sizes and real life, too.

*Works-in-Progress Showcase Participant

Gabriella A. Moses is a director, writer, and production designer based in Brooklyn, NY and graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She has received support from many prestigious institutions. In Winter 2021, she wrapped principal photography on her first feature Boca Chica.

Sterlyn Ramírez, actress and producer focused on telling real life and unique stories about the LatinX community. CEO and founder of Selene Films, an independent film production company based in Santiago de los Caballeros and New York. Led by women, with the aim of promoting the development of Dominican cinema.

*Works-in-Progress Showcase Participant

Fiz Olajide is a New York-based director whose portfolio is characterized by a careful curation of visuals that celebrates the vast beauty of people in outdoor spaces.

Jon Lynn is a creative filmmaker and adrenaline junkie. His list of clients ranges from Adidas to NBC to Black Lives Matter, from documentary to commercial narrative. He’s won Telly, Andy, D&AD Pencil, Gold and Silver Cannes Lion, CLIO, and One Club awards. He is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn.

Nerenda Eid is a producer and AMP Watt Program Fellow born in Liberia and raised in Switzerland and the U.S. She has been the producer behind several award-winning campaigns and remains a go-to producer, having produced projects for Fenty, Nike, Telfar, Moncler, and Yeezy. Nerenda has also lent her expertise to several independent films.

*Works-in-Progress Showcase Participant

Elliot is the CEO of Well Played Studios, an LA-based XR studio. He is the executive producer for Planet City.

Kayvan is the co-founder and co-CEO of Well Played Studios along with Elliot. Together they have shipped over 30 VR/AR projects. Kayvan has taught VR courses at Chapman University and has been sought after for his experience creating intricate multiplayer virtual experiences.

Liam Young is a designer, director, and BAFTA-nominated producer who operates in the spaces between design, fiction, and futures. He has premiered films with platforms ranging from Channel 4, Apple+, SxSW, Tribeca, the New York Metropolitan Museum, The Royal Academy, Venice Biennale, the BBC, and The Guardian.

Mark Pagán is an award-winning filmmaker, audio producer, and the creator/host of Other Men Need Help, a podcast documenting the ways men present themselves to the world, and what's underneath.

Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner, Toñi is the Puerto Rican and Dominican director/producer of Dina and Mala Mala.

Meriem Bennani is a Moroccan artist and director based in New York.

*Works-in-Progress Showcase Participant

Sara Shelton is a NYC-based writer and director. For over a decade, she wrote funny commercials and then started directing them instead. Teddy Bear is her narrative debut. Jed Cohen is an Emmy-nominated creative director, responsible for award-winning advertising campaigns for brands like Apple, Activision, and Volkswagen. They are besties.

*Works-in-Progress Showcase Participant

Hailing from New Delhi, Dr. Meghna Singh is a visual artist and a researcher with a Ph. D in Visual Anthropology.

Simon Wood is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Jessica channels her multi-cultural background to tell engaging character-based stories that resonate across different perspectives and cultures. Her series Right To Offend is premiering at the 2022 Tribeca Festival.

Michael Simses is a writer and director. His work includes the Peabody Award-winning Onion News Network and the Writers Guild Award-winning web series Sylvia Plath: Girl Detective.

*Works-in-Progress Showcase Participant

Bobbi is a Canadian comic and screenwriter, currently filming season 1 of his CBC (Schitt's Creek) series, I Hate People, People Hate Me. Bobbi is the show's creator and star.

Outerloop Games is a minority-led, fully distributed indie game studio that creates accessible games with depth about underrepresented cultures and themes. We are a small and diverse team spread across four continents.

Constance Tsang is a Chinese American filmmaker based in New York. She recently graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in Screenwriting and Directing. Blue Sun Palace will be her first feature.

Marta is a producer living between Barcelona and New York. She holds an MFA in Creative Producing from Columbia University. Her shorts and features have screened in festivals such as Cannes, Torino, Les Arcs, Warsaw, and Palm Springs. She is a Rotterdam Lab, Zurich Film Festival Academy, and Berlinale Talent alumna.

Tony Yang is a Chinese-American film producer based in New York City. He has helped produce three feature films and over 30 short films with his most recent short film that he produced, “Same Old,” having been selected to the main competition of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Yang holds a Master's Degree in Creative Producing from Columbia University.

Pacho and Daniel are filmmakers based in Brooklyn. Their earlier features have shown at Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, and Tribeca.

Zein, Guille, Billy, & Pol are award-winning filmmakers who have produced and directed narrative & documentary films in over 20 countries. In 2020, they combined their diverse cultural and professional backgrounds to form seven8three and produce the documentary series Year Zero with Executive Producer Kathryn Bigelow. Their next documentary series is currently in development.