Dina Amer is an award-winning Egyptian American filmmaker. Her directorial debut YOU RESEMBLE ME premiered in Venice, won over 30 awards and was Executive produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Alma Har’el, Riz Ahmed and Claire Denis. Dina was on CNN with Christiane Amanpour and we received a phenomenal review in the Washington Post - “The film has done nothing less than change the world – or at least how we perceive it.” The film had a theatrical release in 85 markets in the USA and was distributed in over 12 territories worldwide. She was part of the producing team behind Oscar nominated and Emmy award winning film THE SQUARE, which chronicled the Egyptian revolution from the frontlines. Her project CAIN AND ABEL (Sundance Institute Writer & Director Labs and the Academy Gold Fellowship Finalist) is currently in development, with Kingsley Ben-Adir attached as lead. Previous to her film work, Dina was a celebrated journalist. She was awarded the Khalil Gibran spirit of humanity award and was invited to the White House to meet with President Obama. She was an on-air correspondent for VICE, including The Black Market Series, where she uncovered the human trafficking of Syrian refugees and explored the underground economy of illegal Egypt-Gaza tunnels and more. Her written work has been published in The New York Times.

Elizabeth Woodward is the founder and CEO of WILLA, an Academy Award, Emmy, and Social Impact Media Award nominated production & distribution company supported by Sundance Institute and recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, that amplifies exceptional storytelling across genres around today’s most pressing issues. She was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30, DOC NYC 40 Under 40, Berlinale Talents, and is a Sundance Catalyst Fellow, an Impact Partners Producers Fellow, and a Film Independent Fast Track Fellow. Her films have been supported by Sundance Institute, Impact Partners, Film Independent, Field of Vision, The Gotham, Chicken and Egg, New York Foundation for the Arts, the International Documentary Association, among others. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, BAFTA North America, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Council on Foreign Relations Young Professionals Group, the Documentary Producers Alliance, and the Frontline Club. Elizabeth graduated magna cum laude and phi beta kappa from Brown University and received a masters with distinction from the University of Cambridge. She speaks fluent French and proficient Italian and Spanish.,


Caroline Ghosn is an award-winning artist named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business. She recently originated the lead role in the world premiere of Duality, an Off-Broadway production that earned her several acting award nominations. The Founder of million+ member community Levo, she continues to build movements and monuments as the Founder and Executive Artist of award-winning design firm Experience Architects and her new venture, Common Ground Films, an innovative filmmaking and distribution company. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, CNN, Dezeen, and others.

Juliana Antunes and Camila Matos co-directed the feature film “ Copacabana Daydream”. The feature film is in post-production and is scheduled for release in 2026. Together, they are also developing their next film, “Superb”, selected for the Brasil Cinemundi Market (Belo Horizonte 2025) and awarded a prize for online consulting sessions from Diana Bustamante's Colombian production company with credits including works by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, among others.

Marcella Jacques holds a degree in Social Communication with a specialization in Advertising. She has been working in the audiovisual industry since 2004, with extensive experience in production and executive production, having participated in more than 30 projects including feature films, short films, and series. She is a founding partner of the production company VENTURA, together with Laura Godoy and Juliana Antunes, where she has worked as manager and producer since 2016. The company focuses on projects by female directors, seeking through its work to bring visibility to women's leadership in cinema.

Laura Godoy is a partner of Juliana Antunes and Marcella Jacques at the production company VENTURA. The documentary Baronesa, the company’s first film, was screened at more than 100 festivals around the world and received awards such as Best Film at FID Marseille, Festival de La Habana, FIC Valdivia, and DocMontevideo. She is also producer of the feature films A Terra Gasta (in post-production), A Noite e os Dias de Miguel Burnier (world premiere at the Visions du Réel festival, Switzerland, in April 2026), and As Linhas da Minha Mão (winner of the Best Film award at the Mostra de Cinema de Tiradentes 2023), all directed by João Dumans. She is also dedicated to her first documentary as a director, Welles in the Land of Silence, about the legendary visit of Orson Welles to Ouro Preto, her hometown in Brazil, in the 1940s.

Alex Bush (they/them) is a Los Angeles & New York–based writer, director, and producer whose work explores social performance, identity, and liberation, with an eye towards the transcendent. A graduate of NYU Tisch (BFA, Theatre Directing) and AFI Conservatory (MFA, Film Directing), Alex began their career in downtown theatre before moving into cinema, where their voice has quickly emerged as a distinguished presence in American independent film. Their films have screened at AFI Fest, Tribeca, Outfest, & Hollyshorts, and have been presented at Cannes & CAA Moebius. Square Peg Social, Antigravity Academy Screenwriters' Camp, and BENDFilm Basecamp supported filmmaker, AFI Canva Fellowship recipient.

Alex co-wrote the horror feature Good Boy, which received a wide theatrical release from IFC in 2025 and critics praised for its emotional impact, with Variety’s Peter Debruge calling it a “rarely intimate portrait of the bond between people and their pets” that leads to an “emotionally devastating” conclusion.

He's currently co-writing an adaptation of Grady Hendrix’s Ankle Snatcher for Sony Pictures and his feature horror screenplay Follow Mode is being produced by Temple Hill.

As a director, Alex's projects have screened at SXSW, FantasticFest, and Woodstock. His most recent short film, The F-Word, won multiple Audience Awards, became a Vimeo Staff Pick, and was released by The New Yorker. He has also created work for Vox, Wired, The New York Times, and SPIN.

Blaine Fuller studied creative writing at UCLA for his Bachelor's degree, film directing for his MFA at NYU, and cinematography at FAMU in Prague. He is in the Directors Unit at the Actors Studio, was invited to the Kyoto Filmmakers Lab, the Zurich Film Festival Academy, and the Chongqing Summer Film Lab. His mentors include Spike Lee, Werner Herzog, Alex Rockwell, and Todd Solondz. He was the recipient of the Rolly Bester Grant and the WTC Fields Scholarship. Blaine has helmed over twenty short films, some of which were included at the Cannes Film Festival and the Oscar-qualifying Newport Beach Film Festival. He was an Artist-in-Residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai and at Writing Downtown in Las Vegas. He was a monk in Myanmar, a UFC boxing cameraman in South Korea, and a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco.

Chris Dagostino is an Australian-born producer and assistant director based in New York. With a background spanning independent film and commercial production, his credits include Sanctuary, Naked in the Park, and Collection Day.

Willard Morgan is a NYC native who has been making films for years. His most recent work includes producing Collection Day and as writer-director of the feature film The Tannery, about a glove-maker chasing perfection through increasingly inhuman means. Morgan’s earlier work includes the award-winning short Festival Fever (Florida Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival) and the documentary Me & Michael, in which he chases Michael Moore through America in search of validation.

Hunter Zimny is a New York Based Cinematographer. He is known for lensing feature films such as A24/Elara’s FUNNY PAGES (Cannes International Film Festival); Grear Patterson’s GIANTS BEING LONELY (Venice International Film Festival); and Dasha Nekrasova’s THE SCARY OF SIXTY-FIRST (Berlinale).

Kantú Lentz is a Los Angeles–based writer/director working across film, television, commercials, and digital, creating stories set in heightened, alternate realities grounded in magical realism. Her award-winning short film Jack and Jo Don’t Want to Die, starring Justin Kirk, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is currently in development as a feature. In television, Lentz has directed on Chicago Fire for Dick Wolf and on Fire Country for Jerry Bruckheimer. She is an alum of AFI DWW, NBCUNIVERSAL Female Forward, Sony Directors Program, Viacom Directors Program, INDEED Rising Voices and Tribeca Chanel Through Her Lens. Her commercial work includes campaigns for Apple, TUMI, New Balance, ULTA Beauty, Xfinity, Verizon, Aveda, Toyota, Hyundai, Microsoft, Netflix, VICE, Refinery29 and YouTube Originals. Lentz is represented by Verve and Granderson Des Rochers.

Neil Champagne is a film and television producer and Head of Development at Tinygiant, where he leads the company’s independent film division. He previously co-founded A Lasting Dose Pictures, a producer of the TIFF Platform Prize–winning Riceboy Sleeps. His recent work includes Blue Heron, which won the Swatch First Feature Award at the Locarno Film Festival and the Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, as well as She Keeps Me Young (Tribeca Festival 2026) and Good One (Sundance Film Festival 2024; Directors' Fortnight). Additional credits include The Travel Companion (Tribeca 2025) and ASCO: Without Permission (South by Southwest 2024). Prior to this, he co-produced the CBC/Sundance Channel miniseries Unspeakable, named one of The New York Times’ Best International Shows of 2019. He is currently executive producing Situation #64, starring Hari Nef and Louisa Jacobson.

Post-graduation from USC Film School, Liz spent several years directing for the PBS/Hulu series "Just Seen It." She also directed shorts and music videos at this time, including Beth Thorney's "You're So Pony." In 2015, her debut feature (which she wrote, directed and cast), Bread and Butter, was released by The Orchard. It played on Hulu, VOD, and airlines across the globe. HelloGiggles called it, "an absolute must-watch for women everywhere.” Her second feature (which she wrote, directed, and cast), Speed of Life, was called "delightful in just about every way" by noted film critic Tim Cogshell (of NPR's "FilmWeek") aired on Showtime. Liz directed the short Lina, starring Laura San Giacomo, Erika Longo and Sandra Seacat and Witchy starring John Ross Bowie, Christine Weatherup, Morgan Bastin and Sean Wright . She is also the co-host of hit podcast Making Movies Is Hard!!! Currently Liz is in post production on her third feature, a horror comedy called Best Friends Forever starring Bobby Moynihan, Catherine Corcoran, Esther Povitsky, Jessie Ennis, Aparna Nancherla, amongst other wonderful actors. Liz Manashil specializes in feminist content with a whimsical twist.

Laura Reich is a narrative, documentary, and commercial producer. Her narrative work includes the independent feature films, KEPT BOY and ALL SORTS, and she is currently in post production on her third, the horror-comedy BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. Her documentary work includes the PBS American Masters film RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT and award-winning short STATUS PENDING. Her projects have screened at Sundance, Raindance, AFI, and the Smithsonian African American Film Festival, among many others. Commercially she’s produced projects for Riot Games, Silent Hill, Twitch, LEGO, Red Bull, Facebook, G2 Esports, USC, and many more. She is currently a WIF Independent Producer fellow and Los Angeles Co-Chair of Women Independent Producers.,


Pardis Sullins started her career in the film and television industry working for Rainn Wilson’s company, SOULPANCAKE, she gained experience with all stages of production, including art directing and producing a series created for SUPER SOUL SUNDAY on the OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK. She produced the award winning features Sci-Fi Thriller LISTENING and Drama Mystery SPEED OF LIFE (starring Ann Dowd and Allison Tolman) and is currently in post production on the horror-comedy BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. She collaborates with emerging independent filmmakers on a range of film and commercial projects.

Jess McLeod is an award-winning trans nonbinary filmmaker and actor. Their first short, DTF?, is still on the circuit, picking up awards internationally, including Best Director at CIFF. They can be seen next in action/comedy feature Normal starring opposite Bob Odenkirk, in new series The Audacity, and in Jane Schoenbrun's newest film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, premiering at Cannes.

Erin Purghart is a producer, comedian, and actor. Erin got their start producing in the Vancouver comedy scene, and made his first foray into film producing as lead producer on award-winning Crazy8s Top 6 film, DTF?. Since then, Erin has produced several commercials, music videos, and shorts, his most recent backed by Netflix. Her first documentary feature, Trans Girls Raw and Uncut, goes into production in summer 2026.

Eva Tavares is an award-winning queer film producer, actor, writer, and director, garnering global acclaim with a Leo nominated/ UBCP/ACTRA award winning short A Little Vacation (Director/Co-Writer/ Producer). Her directorial debut Hallmark movie, The Christmas Baby, was nominated for a 2026 GLAAD Award, and she just started production on her third directorial effort with the network.

Isabelle Deluce is an award-winning filmmaker and producer. As a producer, her films have premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, AFI Fest, Woodstock Festival, and screened at the MoMA. She was a selected participant in the TIFF Series Accelerator for the TV adaptation of her award-winning short Chicken, which was acquired by CBC. Most recently, she served as lead producer on How to Shoot a Ghost (dir. Charlie Kaufman, starring Jessie Buckley), now available on Criterion Channel and Kanopy.

Aly is a Tribeca alum and Academy Award–qualifying filmmaker whose work centers on female-led psychological narratives that interrogate culture and power. Her short film Twist, starring Helena Howard, premiered in competition at Tribeca Festival and won Grand Jury at Florida Film Festival. It is currently featured on Tribeca's The Short List. Her prior short, After Her, starring Natalia Dyer, screened at over 25 recognized festivals and was distributed by DUST to over 1m views. Aly also directs and shoots commercial campaigns for global brands. Aly studied Modern Culture + Media and Economics at Brown University.

Originally from Minnesota, Kelly Martin is a Los Angeles-based producer and executive at River Road Entertainment. During her tenure at River Road, Kelly helped develop Bill Pohlad's directorial projects, including 2022's DREAMIN' WILD and his upcoming, Paris-set MILES & JULIETTE. She sourced the first spec the company had ever optioned. With a passion for emerging filmmakers, Kelly brought in and executive produced Liz Sargent's directorial debut TAKE ME HOME, which was selected for U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance, Berlinale's Perspectives Section, and Tribeca Film Festival's Spotlight section.

Based in Brooklyn, Zander is a creative producer and Tribeca alum with over a decade leading production for some of the world's biggest brands. Z operates at the intersection of creative ambition and production discipline: conceiving how work lives in mediums. Alongside commercial work, Zander has produced many shorts, including Aly's short films, Twist and After Her.

Chelsie Pennello (director/writer) is a Chinese American filmmaker based in Washington, DC. Her short films have played both domestically and internationally at over 40 festivals including Tribeca, New Orleans, Florida, and Cinequest. Her most recent short film, Cherry-Colored Funk, just finished its 2025 festival run where it won 5 awards, played at 10 oscar-qualifying film festivals, and had its New York Premiere at Tribeca. Her work has been distributed by Omeleto, Directors Notes, and Film Shortage.

Corbett Blair (writer/composer) is a classically trained composer from Washington, D.C. His credits include the short films Mandarins and Grief Retreat (made in association with Issa Rae’s ColorCreative program), an ad for the International Spy Museum, and the video game Branching Sickness, a survival horror shooter with an active Discord community of 11k members. He co-wrote and composed for the short dark comedy Cherry-Colored Funk, which was accepted into 28 festivals in 2025, including Tribeca.

Megan Duffey (producer) is an award-winning producer with over ten years experience in video and film production. Her narrative work has screened as official selections at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, and San Diego International Film Festival among others. Her past brand clients include HBO Max, JP Morgan Chase, Neiman Marcus, and Mercedes-Benz. In June 2023, Megan founded Moon Skin Productions, a production company that prioritizes complex, female-driven storytelling, both in front of and behind the camera, with an emphasis on nurturing early career filmmakers.

Serville Poblete is a Toronto-based filmmaker and writer whose work centres on community, identity, and belonging. His short documentary King's Court, co-produced with the National Film Board of Canada, premiered at Hot Docs 2025, earned a 2026 Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Short Documentary, and is now streaming on NFB.ca. His follow-up documentary In the Morning Sun premiered at SXSW 2026, where it won the Jury Award. The film is Oscar-qualified for the 2027 Academy Awards and continues to screen at festivals internationally. Poblete is currently in post-production on his debut narrative feature Sunburn, selected for the Tribeca Film Festival Markets Creators Market Program, and in development on his second feature A Good Commotion and his TV series The Centre which was selected for the TIFF Series Accelerator in 2024.

Nicole Dane is a Toronto-based producer whose work is rooted in community and character-driven storytelling. She produced In the Morning Sun, which won the Jury Award at SXSW 2026 and is Oscar-qualified for the 2027 Academy Awards, and is currently completing her debut feature as producer, Sunburn, selected for the Tribeca Film Festival Markets Creators Market Program. Both films were made in collaboration with filmmaker Serville Poblete, a partnership shaped by a shared commitment to cinema that reflects and serves the communities it comes from.

Orlando Javier Torres is a Puerto Rican filmmaker based in Brooklyn. In 2011, he was a co-recipient of the Raul Julia Scholarship by the Puerto Rico Film Commission to pursue an MFA in Screenwriting and Directing at Columbia University. His work includes "The Least Worst Man," which was acquired and distributed by HBO, and shorts that have been awarded internationally in Croatia, England, Israel and Spain. He is the editor of "Cielo" (2025), which premiered at Fantasporto International Film Festival and is undergoing a successful festival run including Fantasia Fest, the largest genre film festival in the world. Orlando is developing his first feature film, "Un lugar de agua," workshopped in the prestigious CineQuaNon lab with Oscar nominated screenwriter Senel Paz and selected as a finalist for 2025 AT&T and Tribeca's Untold Stories, the largest production grant in the world. He is co-writing the romantic comedy "But Also Birds" and released the short story collection "Lugares para estar solos" in January 2026.

Mariela Ramos-Oquendo is a Puerto Rican producer, artist and educator. For over 10 years she was based in Los Angeles, where she worked on a wide array of projects for platforms like Hulu, Discovery, Univision, and Netflix. She worked with Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, including the launch of his virtual reality piece Carne y Arena: Virtually present, Physically invisible. Currently based in Puerto Rico, Mariela recently produced the stop motion sequences for Bad Bunny’s short film "Debí tirar más fotos" and his music video "KeTú Tecré." As Associate Producer of the feature film "Extranjera," Mariela successfully navigated the first co-production between Puerto Rico and Taiwan. Her credits also include the series "East Los High" (Hulu); the short films "MELAO" and "Salí a caminar;" and stop-motion animation segments for the documentary "Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It," the series "Big Mouth," and the feature film "If You Were the Last." Mariela is also Adjunct Professor at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, where she teaches film production courses.

Juan Medina is a Puerto Rican public relations specialist with over five years of experience in film distribution. Based in New York City, he currently works at renowned film distributor Kino Lorber, where he has overseen regional and national PR campaigns for the theatrical release of award-winning films such as "Soundtrack to a Coup d’État" (Academy Award®–nominated for Best Documentary), "Mr. Nobody Against Putin" (Academy Award® winner for Best Documentary), and the re-release of Charles Burnett’s "Killer of Sheep." Committed to supporting emerging Caribbean voices, he also collaborates on the production and release of films from his home island. These include the Spirit Award–winning "Esta Isla" (Tribeca Festival, 2025), directed by Cristian Carretero and Lorraine Jones Molina. As Distribution & Publicity Advisor, he contributed to festival strategy and awards campaigns, and led U.S. press outreach for its recent theatrical release. He is also an Associate Producer on "Un lugar de agua," a feature-length narrative project in development directed by Orlando Torres.

Filmes Casa is an independent production company dedicated to the development and production of internationally focused cinema, committed to amplifying new voices and defending creative authenticity. From Puerto Rico, it leverages its multicultural identity to position itself as a key partner in creating extraordinary stories that resonate and connect with audiences. Founded by creative producers Samara Pérez Santiago and Raúl Abner Samrah, the company combines a strong artistic vision with innovative and reliable production models centered on creative collaboration and community impact. Its filmography includes a high volume of award-winning short films and documentaries screened at prestigious national and international festivals.

Alina Yklymova is a German-Turkmen filmmaker and a graduate of the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. She was supported by the Norbert Janssen Foundation’s grant for emerging filmmakers, took part in the Into the Wild mentoring programme for women directors, received the Deutschlandstipendium for outstanding artistic and social achievement, and participated in the X3 Spaces Residency, Storytelling Against Disinformation in the Post-East Context. During her studies she worked with Béla Tarr, Hubert Sauper, Thomas Schadt, Christian Schwochow, Nora Fingscheidt and Maren Ade, among others. Her short films have screened internationally, including at the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival, IN THE PALACE, and Shorts Trieste and have received the Best Film Award at filmreif!, the DACHfilmzeit Innovation Award and a Special Jury Mention at the Düsseldorf Film Festival. Her work combines offbeat humour with emotional depth and a precise eye for human contradiction. At the centre of her films are characters whose desire, pain and inner abysses become visible where the absurd breaks into everyday life. MATRÖSHKI is her fiction feature debut.

Sophia (*1994) focuses her film projects on international productions with narrative shifting stories of marginalized communities & female driven topics. Growing up in China and the Swabian province with an Iranian-German mother, she always felt the urge to tell stories that change perceptions. She most recently produced the feature-length film MATRÖSHKÍ by Alina Yklymova (WDR, SWR, MFG, Hessenfilm). In May 2025, she was selected by German Films to participate in the ImpACT Lab at the Cannes Film Festival. Sophia graduated from the renowned international postgraduate program atelier Ludwigsburg Paris (La Fémis Paris & Filmakademie Ludwigsburg & NFTS London) and the master's program in book and media practice at Goethe University Frankfurt. She studied theater, film, and media studies, fine arts, and intercultural business communication in Hildesheim, Jena, Frankfurt, and Paris (Sorbonne). She was twice awarded the Germany Scholarship, received the Scheffel Prize (for writing talent) and received qualification grants from HessenFilm & Mediafund MidGermany. In addition to her work as creative producer, she works in Casting and as a programmer. She also develops her own short stories, screenplays, and journalistic texts.

Rex Glensy is a British film and television producer and emerging director whose career bridges music, law, and screen storytelling. After beginning as an orchestral conductor, he transitioned into the entertainment industry as a lawyer, specialising in business and creative affairs. Drawing on this multifaceted background, he later moved into producing and directing, with credits including The Sessions (2013) with Helen Hunt, and the Italian feature Hill of Vision (2022), bringing a distinctive blend of artistic sensibility and industry expertise to his work.

Kenneth Carter began his career by working on the production of major live events including the Oscars, the SAG Awards, and the Grammys. He then brought these skills to film and TV production. As of 2026, he is working on "The Asscher Cut," a feature-length documentary where he is the writer, producer, and director. He also served as Script Advisor for the film "Hill of Vision" in 2022. His short film "Worthless" (2022) was selected for the LA Shorts Film Festival, following his successful debut short, "Out of Time" (2019). He also worked as a Story Editor on the feature documentary "The Last Hope" (Beyond the Beach), which premiere at the Venice Film Festival..

Nicole Higgins is a writer, director, and actor whose work lives at the intersection of raw realism and dark, off-center comedy. Drawing from a life lived at full volume, she tells unapologetically female-forward stories that explore survival, contradiction, and taboo with both honesty and bite. She is the writer, director, and star of CVNT, a semi autobiographical indie pilot premiering at the Tribeca Festival. Her work is grounded in character, discomfort, and humor, centering women in stories rarely told this honestly. Alongside her creative work, Nicole has built a career working on major studio productions as a Best Boy Grip, including Ironheart, Ghostbusters, Megalopolis, and Captain America: Brave New World, giving her a deep understanding of production from the inside out.

Jennifer Sherer is an award winning producer and actress based in Los Angeles. Her love of filmmaking was borne from a highschool Spanish class, and her love of acting borne from an ingrained need for attention. She continued fostering her skills in front of and behind the camera while attending UCLA. She has experience producing features, tv pilots, and short films, many of which have won awards and found distribution. Her main passion is producing female focused stories directed by women and helping usher them into a successful festival run. When she’s not making movies, you can find her at a hockey game (Go Kings Go!), snuggling her husband and 4 cats, or scoping out her next good meal.

Ben Weaver is an award-winning writer, director, actor, producer, editor, and cinematographer, and a graduate of the UT Austin film program. He previously served as Terrence Malick’s assistant on Song to Song, Knight of Cups, and Voyage of Time, as well as a Music Consultant on Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. A prolific storyteller, he has written more than 25 feature screenplays, including one that was a Quarterfinalist in the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, created multiple award-winning short films, and directed the feature film The Last Time I Saw Zane. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Morgan Shaw is a Los Angeles–based filmmaker and writer whose work spans both the creative and technical sides of production. With credits in the editorial and production departments on major series including Westworld, Foundation, and Fallout, & Sacred Evil. She brings a deep understanding of story structure, tone, and execution from the inside out. As a writer, Morgan is drawn to character-driven stories that explore identity, power dynamics, and emotional contradiction, often grounded in heightened genre worlds. Her work reflects a sharp eye for detail and a collaborative sensibility shaped by years working on high-level productions.

Amari K. Jones is an Atlanta-born producer, director, writer, actress, and dancer — a true multi-hyphenate creating from every angle of storytelling. She earned her BFA in Performing Arts with double minors in Film & Television and Casting from the Savannah College of Art and Design and is currently pursuing her MFA in the Producing Program at UCLA. Inspired by the soul of ’90s Black cinema, her work blends humor, rhythm, and heart to tell culturally grounded coming-of-age stories. Her original content has reached millions of viewers worldwide, building a growing audience around her voice.

Palmer Williams III is an Atlanta-based filmmaker whose narrative short films weave identity, culture, and faith-driven undertones into coming-of-age black perspectives. With a poetic touch and world-building elements, his storytelling creates space for both reflection and resonance. Williams continues to shape work that explores resilience, purpose, and the layered experiences of life through a lens that is casual, confident, and spiritually rooted.

Jean is a writer, director and producer from the UK and China. Her work has featured in competition at SXSW, Tribeca, and numerous film festivals globally. With a background in documentary, Jean favours telling grounded stories full of observational details. Jean is a graduate of USC’s Stark Producing Program, where she was a BAFTA/Pigott Scholar.

Isabelle Platt is a writer from Portland, Oregon, currently based in Los Angeles. She holds an MFA in Screenwriting from Brooklyn College. Her short films have screened at numerous festivals, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Bushwick Film Festival. She believes in the power of the rom-com.

Sofya Levitsky-Weitz is a WGA Award winning television/film writer and playwright. She has written/produced on The Bear, The Dropout, Gaslit, and The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox and has original television projects in development with 20th/Hulu and Fifth Season. She will direct her feminist horror feature produced by Marc Platt and her play this party sucks will be commercially produced by the Mark Gordon Company in the upcoming year.

Emily Rose Lyons is an actor, writer, and filmmaker with a passion for comedy and telling women's stories. She employed a "do it yourself" approach with her most recent venture, an award-winning romantic comedy web series called "And They Were Roommates," now on YouTube. She wrote, produced, directed, starred in, edited, and marketed the project solo, and she is currently in development for the second season of the series, hoping to premiere sometime later this year.

Alan Scott Neal is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker originally from Virginia. Since finishing film school, Alan has worked as a casting professional on such projects like HBO’s EUPHORIA, Park Chan-wook’s THE SYMPATHIZER and Josh Safdie’s MARTY SUPREME. Alan’s feature film directorial debut LAST STRAW premiered at Sitges Film Festival in 2023 and subsequently played at Beyond Fest and Austin Film Festival. David Ehrlich at IndieWire called it “a steely, relentless, and narratively surprising little shiv of a movie... evoking vintage John Carpenter with a decidedly modern flair.” It was released by Shout! Studios theatrically last fall and is currently available to stream on Shudder..

Angela Wong Carbone is a decorated actor, writer, and producer. Her projects have been supported by AT&T's HelloLab, Tribeca's Untold Stories, Hillman Grad, The Gotham, Mentorship Matters, Slamdance, AGBO's Italian American Filmmaker Forum and NYFA. Born and raised in New York to an immigrant Chinese mother and Brooklyn-bred Italian-American father, Wong Carbone’s questions about identity saturate her work. As an actor, Wong Carbone has starred in projects including Chicago Med, Elsbeth, WeCrashed, and the 2019 Black List film Resurrection. In 2020, she was selected as a cohort of the ABC Talent Showcase. Before trailblazing a decorated acting and writing career, Wong Carbone earned a degree in Architecture from Cornell University.

Grace Merriman is a producer and former child actor from New York City with a passion for stories about identity, belonging, and the search for self that spark meaningful conversations and amplify emerging voices. Grace has produced a diverse slate of short films that have screened at festivals including the Hamptons International Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShortFest, Provincetown International Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, HollyShorts Film Festival, the Asian American International Film Festival, CinemaJove, and Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival, among others. Her short Classmates had its world premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival, received a Special Mention at Proof Film Festival, and was featured as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Grace holds a BFA in Drama from NYU&s Tisch School of the Arts, an MFA in Creative Producing from Columbia University, and an MBA from USC Marshall. In 2026 she founded Moody House Films, an independent production company based in New York and Los Angeles.

Winslow Crane-Murdoch and Cecilia Brown are documentary collaborators, married, and co-owners of Sideyard Studios. Together, they take documentaries from start to finish, with Cecilia editing, Winslow DPing, and both directing. Their focus is on telling stories that feel centered in the human experience, regardless of the subject matter. Recently, they released the documentary short Oh Whale, which won the Oscar-qualifying jury award at the New Hampshire Film Festival, and the Best Short Documentary award at Montclair & Miami Film Festivals. Their first co-directed short, Strong Grandma, was acquired by The New Yorker, and played at True/False, Doc10, Big Sky, SF MOMA and at the Paris Olympics, among others. Winslow’s first feature, The Quiet Epidemic (HotDocs, 2022) was selected at over 20 festivals around the country, winning ‘best documentary’ four times, and receiving a national theatrical release and screening at Congress. Cecilia has been a writer and editor on multiple award-winning documentary shorts including Swept (2025 Emmy Nominee for Best Short Documentary), Teddy (2025), and Walking Two Worlds (Tribeca, 2022), and was named Best Oregon Filmmaker by McMinnville Film Festival. Between the two of them, their work has been published by HBO, The New Yorker, TIME Magazine, Magnolia Network, and This American Life.

Director lyric r cabral is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer based in Los Angeles. His documentary work has appeared on Netflix, Hulu, BBC, and PBS, among others, and is held in collection at museums including the Whitney Museum, Studio Museum of Harlem, and New Orelans Museum of Art. Recent projects include directing the documentary Destiny’s Father (MRC), which explores Destiny’s Child’s long journey to stardom through the eyes of Mathew Knowles (2024) and directing and producing an episode of Trevor Noah: The Tipping Point series (2023), profiling WNBA athlete/activist Layshia Clarendon. His feature documentary (T)ERROR, which goes inside an active FBI counter-terrorism sting operation, was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Documentary, a Grand Jury Prize at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and a Special Jury Award for Breakout First Feature at the Sundance Film Festival (2016).

Producer Tabs Breese, based in LA, is from London. She began her career working in-house in documentary development for companies Pulse Films, Passion Pictures and Concordia Studio. Work from that decade includes as development producer on Netflix's BIKRAM: YOGI, GURU PREDATOR (TIFF 2019) and development associate producer on A24 and Apple's BOYS STATE (Sundance 2020). Recent films as an independent producer include MIJA (Sundance 2022), bought by Disney Original Documentaries, LET THE CANARY SING (Tribeca 2023) about Cyndi Lauper, bought by MTV and Paramount+ and THE SHADOW SCHOLARS (London Film Festival 2024), bought by Film4 in the UK and executive produced by Academy Award winning filmmaker Steve McQueen.

Jeremy S. Levine's work explores race, class, and the power of parental bonds through cinematic, formally rigorous films. An Emmy award-winning filmmaker and two-time Sundance Institute fellow, his work has screened at over one hundred film festivals around the world including the Berlinale, Tribeca, and Sundance, streamed on Netflix, Amazon, Sundance Now, Starz, and Hulu, broadcast nationally in nine countries, and received over 25 festival awards.

His last feature documentary, For Ahkeem, is a love story set against the backdrop of the Ferguson uprising and the school-to-prison pipeline. For Ahkeem played as an official selection of over 60 film festivals where it won 12 awards, including 8 “Best Documentary Awards.” The film was named in Top 10 Lists by both Entertainment Weekly and People and was included on the “Unforgettables” List by the Cinema Eye Honors, a list that IndieWire wrote “helped to define documentary cinema in 2017.” Levine directed The Panola Project, a 2022 Sundance official selection. In 2006, Levine co-founded the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, a community of professional filmmakers dedicated to collaboration and mutual support. He is an assistant professor of film production at Suffolk University.

Rachael DeCruz's work centers on how familial and community bonds fortify people to push back against racist systems. DeCruz’s first film, The Panola Project, was an official selection of over 35 festivals, including Sundance, Hot Docs, and the DOC NYC Shortlist. The short film illuminates how an often-overlooked rural Black community came together in creative ways to survive the pandemic. The film received 12 festival awards, including the Oscar-qualifying Best Documentary Short Award at the Florida Film Festival, and was released with The New Yorker, featured on MSNBC's The Last Word and Morning Joe and highlighted in over 50 publications. Following the film’s release, Dr. Fauci said Dorothy’s work served as a model for the country and Dorothy received a letter of thanks from Kamala Harris. DeCruz is the former Chief of Staff at Race Forward, the country’s largest multiracial racial justice nonprofit and was the Communications Chair of the Seattle King County NAACP for over five years. Nine is her directorial feature debut.

Rajal Pitroda is a producer of fiction and non-fiction films. She is a Women at Sundance Fellow, Impact Partners Producers Fellow, Film Independent Documentary Producing Lab Fellow, and Sundance Creative Producing Fellow. Rajal’s recent credits include The Gas Station Attendant, winner of a Special Mention Grand Jury Prize at the 2025 Sheffield DocFest, the award winning documentary short A Shot at History, which premiered at the 2024 Double Exposure Film Festival, Southern Fried Lies which premiered on Peacock in April 2025, and Down a Dark Stairwell, which premiered at the 2020 True/False Film Festival and was broadcast on Independent Lens. Her work has been supported by Women in Film, Black Public Media, Chicken and Egg Pictures, Firelight Media, the Tribeca Film Institute, SFFILM and others. Prior to producing, Pitroda was the Founder of Cinevention, a media company where she designed and executed marketing and distribution strategies for feature films. Pitroda started her career in film working in international marketing for Bollywood movies based in Mumbai. She has a degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from London Business School.

Shaina Feinberg is an award-winning American filmmaker and writer. In her twenties she created a stoner-punk sketch show, The Spew, has appeared on This American Life, written a New York Times column (2019–2024), created two original series for Audible and authored three books. She directed two short documentaries for The New York Times: A Brief History of Hating My Face (2023) and I Almost Quit My Career for My Kids. Then I Met Joan Darling. (2025). Her documentary My Mom’s Eggplant Sauce (2022) opened the Aspen Film Festival and is taught at universities in the U.S. and U.K. Her short Cleo From 8:20 to 2:35 received a 2024 NYFA grant. Her film We Should Eat (2024) won the 2025 Caz Matthews Award at SeriesFest, and has screened at over 40 festivals. Shaina was a 2025 resident at JFI with her feature None of This Matters, which was awarded a 2026 NYSCA grant.

Judith Mizrachy is a New York City-based independent producer. Her work includes The Martha Mitchell Effect, which premiered at Sundance in 2022, was released globally on Netflix, and was nominated for a 2023 Academy Award® for Best Short Documentary; The Booksellers, which premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2019 and was released theatrically around the world; and Uncropped, which launched as the Centerpiece at DOC NYC in 2023 was named “One of the Best Documentaries of the Year” by Variety.  Her recent producing credits also include the ITVS film Land With No Rider (True/False 2025), Maintenance Artist (Tribeca 2025), and the short documentary Women Laughing (Woodstock Film Festival 2025). Judith's work has been shown on big screens including Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Bertha DocHouse London, and on small screens via Netflix, The Criterion Channel, The New Yorker and more.

Elisabeth Durkin has produced work that has been commissioned by The New York Times, Audible, Topic, Uninterrupted, and BRICtv. She co-owns Zerocool, a New York– and L.A.–based production company, and has created branded content for clients such as Macy’s, Maybelline, Dress for Success, Alliance Bernstein and Martha Stewart. Recent work includes: Cleo From 8:20 to 2:35 (2024 NYFA grant recipient), We Should Eat (2025 Caz Matthews Award at SeriesFest) and the feature documentary None of This Matters (2026 NYSCA grant) about Hollywood legend Joan Darling and featuring Marisa Tomei and The Daniels.

CJ Hunt is a comedian and the Emmy-nominated director of The Neutral Ground, a documentary about memory, monuments, and breaking up with the confederacy. He has been a director for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, HBO’s Game Theory with Bomani Jones and BET’s The Rundown with Robin Thede. A fellow with New America and Firelight Media, CJ is also a member of Doc NYC’s 40-Under-40. His debut film has been nominated by the International Documentary Association, The Critics Choice association, and the Columbia-duPont Awards in Journalism. A graduate from Brown University in Africana studies, CJ is fascinated with comedy’s ability to say what we can’t.

Darcy McKinnon is an award-winning documentary filmmaker based in New Orleans, whose recently released projects include Natchez, (Best Documentary, Tribeca, 2025), Turnaround (NOFF, 2025), A King Like Me and Roleplay, (SXSW, 2024), Commuted (PBS, 2024), Algiers, America (Hulu, 2023), Under G-d (Sundance 2023), Look at Me! XXXTENTACION (SXSW, Hulu, 2022) and The Neutral Ground (Tribeca, POV, 2021). Current projects in production include Jason Fitzroy Jeffers’ The First Plantation, Brian Becker’s Untitled Swamp Documentary, CJ Hunt’s Unlearned, Alyse Shorland’s The People’s Network, Nicole Craine’s Kinfolk and Zac Manuel’s The Instrument.

Jeremy Blum is a filmmaker based in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. He co-produced the 2022 Emmy-nominated documentary THE NEUTRAL GROUND, which received a Special Jury Mention at the Tribeca Film Festival and premiered as the season-opener on POV Docs. He also produced director Angela Tucker's Webby award-winning series THE TREES REMEMBER, Garrett Bradley’s film exhibition SAFE, Zandashé Brown's BENEDICTION, and directors Geneva Peschka & Anna Andersen's film THE SOLACE OF SISTERHOOD, which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival and won the jury award for Best Documentary Short at the New Orleans Film Festival. Jeremy is an alumnus of the New Orleans Film Society’s 2023 Southern Producers Lab.

Sofian Khan is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and founder of Capital K Pictures. He directed, produced and shot THE INTERPRETERS, a feature-length documentary following Afghan and Iraqi interpreters being targeted for their work helping American forces that made its broadcast premiere on the 2019 season of PBS Independent Lens and was nominated for an Emmy. His episode of the PBS American Masters series IN THE MAKING (2021) received a Webby Award and an NAACP Image nomination. In 2022, Sofian directed an episode of the HBO Max series TAKEOUT WITH LISA LING and produced AN ACT OF WORSHIP under the Capital K Pictures banner, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and broadcasted on PBS' POV series. He was one of DOCNYC’s 40 Under 40 in 2019, a Sundance Producing Fellow in 2019-2020 and a 2024 Creative Capital Awardee. His short work has appeared on Field of Vision, The Atlantic, TOPIC, Al Jazeera and NBC Digital.

Kiva Reardon is a producer, writer, and programmer who works across fiction and non-fiction. Past credits include: SORRY BABY (2025) and NOW HEAR ME GOOD (2025). Previously, she held the positions of: Vice President, Film at Barry Jenkins’s production company PASTEL; Associate Director of Film Programs at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures; and Lead Programmer of Contemporary World Cinema at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). She has also worked with the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), Hot Docs, and the Miami International Film Festival.

Katyayani Kumar is a director, editor, and writer working across documentary and fiction. Kumar is drawn to stories in the margins, where what slips into the shadows of society waits to be rediscovered. A fellow of UnionDocs in New York and incoming editing fellow at the American Film Institute, Kumar was selected by Academy Award–winning producer Guneet Monga to represent India at TIFF as part of the Women in Film delegation. Kumar’s films, including Coffined at Fifteen and Beholder, have screened internationally. Kumar is currently directing Sons of the River, supported by DOC NYC, HotDocs, Film Bazaar, and more.

Eric Cook is an independent producer based in Los Angeles, working across narrative film, documentary, and commercials. He executive produced the feature film Monica (2021), which premiered in competition at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, and developed and co-produced Showtime’s investigative documentary Ready for War, which premiered at TIFF 2019. In 2022, he released the four-part docuseries Model America (NBC News Studios/MSNBC/Peacock), earning a News & Documentary Emmy nomination. In 2023, Eric premiered two docuseries: True Crime Story: Look Into My Eyes (AMC Networks) and Amazon’s Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, the latter becoming the platform’s biggest documentary debut. Its follow-up season, Shiny Happy People: A Teenage Holy War, premiered in 2025. His 2024 feature documentary They Called Him Mostly Harmless debuted at #1 on HBO Max’s most-watched list and he just released a feature documentary Tiler Peck: Suspending on PBS which has been nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy. Eric is a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, a 2020 IFP/Gotham Episodic Lab Fellow, and a member of the Producers Guild of America.

Elana Meyers is a documentary filmmaker/editor from New York City. She co-directed and edited the short documentary, ‘Survival Without Rent,’ which was supported by Chicken & Egg Films, American Documentary, New York State Council on the Arts, and Untitled Filmmakers Org. The film screened at DOC NYC, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Ji.hlava IDFF, Athens International Film + Video Fest, and won Best Short Documentary at the Chicago Underground Film Festival. She was an editor on the PBS/Amazon Prime series, ‘Citizen Nation,’ which won an IDA Award for Best Episodic Series and was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy for Best Editing. She also edited the feature, ‘No One Asked You,’ which premiered at DOC NYC. Her other work has showcased at the Camden International Film Festival, the Brooklyn Museum, the Feminist Institute, and more. She is currently a BRIClab TV + Film Resident with her current project, an all-archival feature film which is also supported by NYSCA, the Lepage Center, and Union Docs..

Katie Heiserman is a filmmaker and public historian passionate about preserving and publicizing overlooked histories. In her media-making practice, she uses archival material to examine collective memory and urban histories of resistance. She is the co-director and archival producer of ‘Survival Without Rent,’ which was supported by Chicken & Egg Films, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, American Documentary, and Untitled Filmmakers Org. The film screened at DOC NYC, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Ji.hlava IDFF, and the Athens International Film + Video Fest and won Best Short Documentary at the Chicago Underground Film Festival. She has worked as an archival producer on several films and podcasts, including the upcoming PBS documentary ‘West Side Familia.’ She currently serves as Assistant Curator at an American History archive and is completing the BRIClab TV + Film artist residency. She earned her MA in Archives & Public History from NYU in 2023, where she was awarded an Urban Public Humanities Fellowship.

Carina is an award-winning Scottish-Algerian filmmaker who has screened at Edinburgh International Film Festival and Glasgow Short Film Festival. Her first short doc, ULULATION, made with the Scottish Documentary Institute, has screened internationally and won a John Byrne Award. She trained in social documentary with Barcelona-based OTOXO Productions. She is developing a second feature film, AN ACT AGAINST NATURE, which has been supported by Sheffield Doc Fest’s Queer Realities Director’s Lab, SDI’s Write Now Fund and UnionDocs Summer Development Lab. She is a BAFTA Connect member, was selected as one of SDI’s ‘New Voices’ and was a participant in Film in Mind’s supervision group for emerging filmmakers, Reclaim The Frame’s Filmonomics 8 and IDFA Academy 2025.

Steven is a Peabody-nominated documentary producer of PHANTOM PARROT (CPH:DOX F:ACT Category 2023) and the Cinema Eye-nominated ROLL RED ROLL (Netflix, BBC, POV - PBS). The film was called ‘essential viewing’ – Hollywood Reporter, ‘Raw and pressing’ – Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, was Critic’s Pick for The New York Times. His other work includes ANONYMOUS COMES TO TOWN (Tribeca Film Institute, The Guardian) and THE FAMILY STATEMENT (Field Of Vision). Steven is the co-creator of the documentary/theatre hybrid HUMAN (touring 2021, 2022), a celebration in diversity of body type told through true stories and circus that champions accessibility for all audience members.

Pacho Velez is a nonfiction filmmaker in NYC. His last feature, They’re Here (2024, co-directed with Dan Claridge) looks at UFO experiencers in Upstate New York. It premiered at Tribeca. His prior film, Searchers (2021), premiered at Sundance before going on to play at many festivals around the world. Pacho also directed The American Sector (2020, co-directed with Courtney Stephens), which premiered at the Berlinale. His earlier features include The Reagan Show (Tribeca 2017, co-directed with Sierra Pettengill) and Manakamana (2013, co-directed with Stephanie Spray). Manakamana won a Golden Leopard in the Filmmakers of the Present competition at the Locarno International Film Festival (2013). Pacho also produced the feature Realm of Satan (Sundance 2024, directed by Scott Cummings). At present, he is an assistant professor of screen studies at The New School.

Milo Borsuk is a documentary producer based in Los Angeles. He co-produced the film Searchers, directed by Pacho Velez, which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and screened at Visions du Réel. His work spans investigative journalism and character-driven documentaries. Milo works at World of Wonder Productions as a producer across their documentary slate, where his projects include an upcoming HBO documentary featuring journalist Ronan Farrow, based on Farrow’s New Yorker investigation “How Police Let One of America’s Most Prolific Predators Get Away.”

Scott Cummings is a New York-based filmmaker and editor. His directorial feature debut REALM OF SATAN premiered at Sundance 2024. His own films are hybrids of experimental, documentary and fiction forms and techniques. He works as both a fiction editor a well as a consulting editor and consulting producer for creative nonfiction films, including several films with nonfiction filmmaker Pacho Velez.

Katie Lightman is a proud alum of The New School's film program. She graduated in 2024. Liberal Arts is her first professional work. She is friends with many of the students depicted in the film.

Curtis Whitear is a documentary filmmaker and editor. Born and raised in Utah, he's been a New Yorker for the past decade. Most recently, he was the editor and co-writer of Inheritance, a feature documentary filmed over eleven years in Appalachia that explores addiction and poverty within a multigenerational family. The film premiered at Slamdance in 2024, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary. He is currently editing a feature documentary about Cop City, directed by Sam Cullman and Christopher Frierson. Curtis is also the founder of the Childhood Delusions Film Festival, a showcase for adults who made films as children, which has been featured in The New Yorker and Screen Slate.

Nicholas Bruckman is an Emmy-nominated director/producer and founder of People&s Television, a creative studio based in NYC and DC that tells bold, cinematic stories. His most recent doc series The Price of Milk premiered at Tribeca 2025 and will be released on streaming this summer. His previous documentary, Minted: The Rise (and Fall?) of the NFT, premiered at the Tribeca and was released on Netflix in over 100 countries in 2025. Nick also directed the acclaimed feature documentary Not Going Quietly, which won both the Audience Award and Jury Prize at SXSW, released theatrically nationwide by Greenwich Entertainment, and was acquired for global streaming by Hulu and Vice Media. Through People's TV he leads a team producing documentaries and commercial work for the world's leading brands, foundations, and nonprofits.

Anthony Columbusis a Los Angeles-based writer, director, and producer working across documentary and narrative film. His latest project, THE LITTLE CULT THAT COULD — a darkly comedic documentary series built on eight-plus years of unique access inside a Michigan doomsday group — premieres its first episode at the Tribeca Festival. Columbus broke through as a genre filmmaker with his scripted horror short ALICE AND THE LITTLE GREEN MEN, which screened at HollyShorts, Brooklyn Horror, and Nightmares Film Festival, earning nominations and wins during its festival run. He's actively raising funds for both the horror feature RARE (cowriter-director-producer) and the unique access true crime documentary MY HUSBAND, A KILLER? (producer).

Bianca Giaever is an independent filmmaker and radio journalist. Her recent short documentary STALIN BOYS (co-directed with Ora DeKornfeld) won an audience award and special jury award at SXSW. Her TV pilot, FREE HELP, will be premiering at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival. Her stories have appeared on This American Life, Radiolab, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. She is the creator and host of "Constellation Prize," a podcast distributed by The Believer magazine, and a former producer on The New York Times' audio team, where she produced and occasionally hosted episodes of "The Daily." In 2013, her college short film, "the Scared is scared," was named "Web Video of the Year" by USA Today. She is the winner of a Daytime Emmy and a Webby award and recently completed a Nieman Fellowship in Journalism at Harvard University.

Ora DeKornfeld is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and editor. Her most recent film, STALIN BOYS, premiered at Big Sky and won both the Audience Award and Special Jury Prize at SXSW. Previous work includes the Emmy-nominated USA V SCOTT (Tribeca Film Festival, The New Yorker) and THIS IS WHAT A POST-ROE ABORTION LOOKS LIKE (Emmy Awards, The New York Times). She also directed several episodes of the Vox Media / Netflix original series, EXPLAINED. As a cinematographer and editor, her credits include the Disney+ documentary MIJA (Sundance, CPH:Dox) and Elizabeth Lo's MISTRESS DISPELLER (Venice Film Festival Winner).

Ellen Martinez is an Emmy Award-Nominated documentary director, producer, and writer. She directed and produced “After Spring,” a feature documentary about the Syrian refugee crisis. The film was Executive Produced by Jon Stewart, had its World Premiere at Tribeca, and was broadcast on Starz. Her second feature, “Slumlord Millionaire,” follows the story of four residents fighting back against corrupt landlords and developers in New York City. It World Premiered at DOC NYC where it won the Audience Award, had a theatrical run, and nationwide broadcast on PBS. She was the Casting Producer on “PETS” for Disney+ and has worked on projects for HBO, Disney+, PBS, Participant Media, and Imagine Documentaries.

Elisabeth Jamison is an award-winning producer and director whose work spans documentary, television, and advertising. Her Emmy-nominated credits include projects for HBO, Amazon, Nat Geo, and Apple TV+, as well as collaborations with Alex Gibney, Bennett Miller, and the Peabody Award-winning Renaud Brothers. She produced and served as the creative lead on PETS, a feature documentary that premiered on Disney+, and was a producer on DADS (Apple TV+), directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and executive-produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.

Tim Barnes is a comedian, television writer, and podcast producer known for dissecting tough subjects from unexpected angles. With a decade of experience in late-night, sketch, multi-camera, animated, and audio productions, Barnes enjoys developing worlds that balance absurdity with relatability, from the broken utopia of his Comedy Central animated web series Maurice on Mars to the faulty justice of his Ninth Planet Audio sitcom JUDGE TRAVIS. Barnes has written for the 2026 WGA East Awards hosted by Roy Wood Jr., the 2022 Nickelodeon sitcom Warped!, NBC’s late-night/variety series The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Nickelodeon’s 2019 revival of All That, and the NPR quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. He also web-produced season one of HBO’s late-night docuseries Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas, which was apparently just before “the web” and “television” became the same damn thing. In addition to hosting the You Are The Genre podcast, where he dissects the winding creative paths of each guest, Barnes has developed and produced numerous podcasts, including VICE Media’s Webby-nominated Science Solved It, First Look Media’s Politically Re-Active, and Earwolf’s Kondabolu Brothers podcast.

Kemal Evans is a writer, creator, and founder of MindFull Media, focused on building immersive, sound-first stories that stay with you after you’ve finished listening.

Raised in a deeply musical environment and now a father of four, his work is grounded in emotional realism and human connection. He independently created the first season of 22 DAYS, a cinematic audio thriller exploring identity, control, and survival in a near-future world, designed for expansion across film, television, and beyond.

Alongside this, he is developing new projects, including children’s stories and a romantic comedy, reflecting a broader interest in character-driven storytelling across genres.

He is currently seeking strategic partners for adaptation, distribution, and development."

Naomi Grewan (she/they, 27) is an audio producer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her professional career started in theatre, where she worked for an educational theatre group in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When she left the theatre, Naomi studied journalism and political studies back home in South Africa. Since graduating, she's been the communications manager and a producer at Radio Workshop. For Radio Workshop, Naomi has produced audio documentaries on climate change, LGBTQI+ rights, mental health and civic participation. In 2025, Naomi was selected for a sound documentary residency in Paris with Ecole Nationale Supérieure Louis-Lumière and as a Senior Communicator Fellow for the SNF Global Center at the Child Mind Institute. In her spare time, she's likely reading a horror novel, drinking a chai latte, or desperately trying to get her rosemary to grow.

Jonathan Mitchell is a director, composer, and audio storyteller known for pioneering cinematic, improv-driven fiction in podcasting. He is the creator and producer of The Truth, an award-winning audio drama anthology that blends naturalistic performances, film-style editing, and original music into short, emotionally precise stories. Since its debut in 2012, The Truth has earned millions of downloads, a devoted global audience, and recognition as one of the most accomplished collections of narrative audio fiction. Before founding The Truth in 2012, Mitchell spent more than fifteen years working in public radio, producing stories and sound design for shows like Radiolab, Studio 360, This American Life, and All Things Considered. His pieces have aired nationally and internationally and have received major honors, including the Peabody, two Sarah International Fiction Awards, and a Third Coast Award.

As a director, composer, and editor, Mitchell is known for creating immersive sonic worlds, performances that feel lived-in rather than performed, and stories that hover between comedy, drama, and the surreal. He has collaborated with some of New York’s most accomplished improv actors and writers, and continues to push the boundaries of narrative audio through experimentation with process, performance, and sound.

He lives and works in New York City.

An accomplished filmmaker, producer, and director from Michigan, Sean O'Grady has built a diverse career in narrative and documentary filmmaking. He is also the host of Suspicious Minds, a 2x Webby nominated podcast series that has spent over 6 consecutive months in the Top 100 Series on Apple podcasts. Sean is the co-founder of direct to audience content studio Agoric Media. Sean’s work spans award-winning feature films that have screened at major festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, Telluride, Berlin, and TIFF. Recently, his producing effort Mr. Crocket debuted at #1 on Hulu. Sean’s recent directorial effort, The Mill, a science-fiction thriller starring Lil Rel Howery, also premiered at #1 on Hulu in October 2023. He has also directed documentaries such as Revolution: GMC HUMMER EV (History/Hulu) and Our American Family (AMC+), and created a Netflix Original Series. With extensive experience in commercial production for brands like Chevrolet, LinkedIn, and Amazon, Sean brings a strategic, creative vision to Agoric Media, aiming to build an entertainment company that reaches audiences directly and bypasses traditional industry constraints.

Mandy Teefey is a co-founder and CEO of Wondermind, as well as the founder and CEO of Kicked to the Curb Productions, where she has developed award winning and nominated content. Drunk with passion and fueled by drive, Mandy will use this to anchor Wondermind deeply in story because the team truly understands the value and hunger for inclusive content and the need to change the narrative on how mental health is portrayed. Mandy is best known for “Thirteen Reasons Why.” She is a Patron of Women in Film and is a member of the Producers Guild of America. Mandy’s philanthropic endeavors include Alliance for Children’s Rights, mentoring youth and mental health rights. She is a national organ donation reform advocate and has been working with bipartisan congressional leaders including Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley, Katie Porter, and Cori Bush to address urgent racial justice issues to help more patients receive lifesaving transplants. On her downtime, she enjoys scavenger hunts, hanging with her family, going glamping, and being an arm couch detective.

Jonathon Glucksman is a film and television executive with a proven track record of developing culturally relevant, commercially viable content across major studios and emerging platforms. He began his career working with industry leaders such as Warner Bros. and Lionsgate, where he contributed to high-profile franchises including The Hunger Games, Twilight, and DC properties—gaining hands-on experience in large-scale IP development, franchise strategy, and global audience engagement. Currently serving as Director of Creative Development for Film/TV at Wondermind, Jonathon is leading the company’s expansion into premium content across television, film, and digital formats. His work focuses on building a slate that blends entertainment with cultural impact, including projects rooted in mental health, identity, and human behavior. He has been instrumental in securing and developing key partnerships and IP, including collaborations with major players like Mattel, Blumhouse, and Fifth Season, positioning Wondermind as a forward-thinking studio in a competitive landscape.

A seasoned entrepreneur with a proven record of founding and scaling multiple businesses, Jesse Ford specializes in line production, systems, and financial management. With a strong background in accounting, finance, and cashflow systems, he brings a disciplined and strategic approach to the business of storytelling—ensuring every project is built on a foundation of fiscal sustainability and creative excellence. Jesse is the co-founder of WTP Pictures, a commercial film production company, producing for agencies and direct to brands globally. Alongside Sean, he has produced Revolution: GMC HUMMER EV, The Mill, Mr. Crocket, Haunted Heist, and the forthcoming documentary Farm to School Lunch Across America.

Remoy Philip is a New York City based editorial journalist and creative producer. His work has taken him around the globe-- with stops at Sundance, SxSW, Tribeca --telling stories of underserved and marginalized people groups, resulting in humanization and audience activism.

Bob Raymonda (he/they) is a writer and producer based out of Larchmont, New York. In 2018 he co-founded Rogue Dialogue Productions, a podcast production company that creates richly sound- designed content in a variety of genres. Their first show, a sci-fi audio drama called Windfall, launched in February 2019. Their second show, a podcast sitcom called Forgive Me!, launched in August 2020. Outside of RDP, their fiction podcast writing work has also appeared on Greater Boston, The Truth, The Amelia Project, World Gone Wrong, and Someone Dies in This Elevator. Learn more at: bobraymonda.co/