Lio Mehiel

Lío Mehiel is a Puerto Rican and Greek actor, artist, and filmmaker.

Their work spans film, television, multimedia installation, theater, and events. Their practice explores the concept of "transness" as a philosophy, an orientation towards embodied creativity that extends beyond an individual’s gender expression.

Lío made their feature film debut starring in Sundance 2023’s MUTT. Their critically acclaimed performance earned them the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award in Acting, making them the first trans actor to ever win the award. The film, which attended multiple other festivals (including Berlinale, where it was awarded best film), had a theatrical run last fall and can currently be streamed on Netflix. Earlier this year, Lío returned to Sundance, starring opposite Leslie Grace, Sasha Calle, and Residente in the indie feature, IN THE SUMMERS. The film won the festival’s top honor of Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.

As a filmmaker, Lío is a co-founder of Voyeur Productions. Their work includes producing CHAPERONE, a queer short film which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, as well as writing, directing, producing, and starring in DISFORIA, a short film which premiered at the 2018 Outfest Film Festival. Voyeur’s latest short, ENTRE AMIGXS, recently debuted on NOWNESS.

Lío served as the producer and creative director of the transgender sculpture collection, Ancient Futures/Angels. The works most recently showed at GUTS Gallery in London and can now be seen at Charleston Trust in the UK. Their piece, Arcade Amerikana, was included in the list of 10 Best Immersive Shows in NYC by TimeOut and Gothamist.

Murtada Elfadl

Murtada Elfadl is a culture writer, critic, and film curator. Originally from Khartoum, Sudan he’s currently based in New York. His writing has been published at Variety, The A.V. Club, and Backstage Magazine, among other publications. He’s a programmer at NewFest, New York’s LGBTQ Film Festival and at the documentary festival, DOC NYC.

Brydie O'Connor

Brydie O’Connor is a Kansas-born, NY based filmmaker. Her award-winning work focuses on women-driven and queer stories. Brydie’s most recent film LOVE, BARBARA (2022) won the Grand Jury Prize for Short Documentary at Outfest and was nominated for an IDA award. Brydie’s work has been supported by The Future of Film Is Female, Hot Docs, Dok.Leipzig, Ji.hlava IDFF, NYFA, NYSCA, Brooklyn Arts Council, DocsBarcelona, and ArtsKC, and has screened at places such as The Museum of Modern Art, BFI, & DOC NYC. Most recently, Brydie was selected as the recipient of the Hulu/Kartemquin Accelerator with her debut feature documentary, and she is developing two new projects in the UFO Short Film Lab. She is a graduate of The George Washington University, and has developed her work at both the Arts Letters & Numbers Residency (2022) and the Provincetown Film Society Queer Filmmakers Residency (2024). She is currently in production on her debut feature documentary on pioneering lesbian experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer, executive produced by Killer Films. 

As an Archival Producer, Brydie’s credits include VENUS RISING (Tribeca, 2024), NEVER SATISFIED (Tribeca, 2024), LONG TIME SUN (SXSW, 2024), BREAKING FORM (Dance on Camera Lincoln Center, 2024), SEX BEFORE THE INTERNET Season 2 (Vice, 2023), WHERE JAZZ LIVES (Lincoln Center, 2022), and a forthcoming documentary feature in post-production for HBO.