Leo Černic (1995) is an author of short animated films, madly in love with small independent film production and humble, sincere artists. He graduated in film and television directing from the Academy of Theater, Radio, Cinema, and Television in Ljubljana and then concluded his studies in animation at the Experimental Center of Cinematography – Piedmont branch in Turin. He is currently working as a freelance author and animation filmmaker.

Enrique is a visual artist and filmmaker from Bogotá, Colombia. He was recently appointed to co-lead the Documentary Film Initiative at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard Kennedy School, working to support new research, analysis, innovation and provocation around core issues facing the documentary field.

His latest film, Alpha Kings, premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2023, and was acquired for distribution by The New Yorker. It was recently selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick. His work has screened at True/False Film Fest, AFI Fest, SXSW, Festival de Nouveau Cinema, Museum of Moving Image, Camden International Film Festival, among others. Enrique is currently working on his first feature-length project.

He served as Senior Manager of Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program for six years, running the Edit and Story Lab, Music and Sound Design Lab, Art of Editing Lab, and leading the program’s international strategy. He was Director of Programming for Ambulante Documentary Film Festival in its California edition, and has served as consultant and Juror in numerous selection committees for nonprofit institutions and media funds, including Sundance’s Documentary Fund, John Hopkins’ Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Points North Institute, Proimagenes Colombia, IMCINE Mexico and Concordia’s Fellowship Program. Enrique is currently part of the selection committee for the Tribeca Film Festival.

He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film & Television from the New York Film Academy and a Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Film & Video from Stanford University.

LaTajh Weaver is a writer and director from Oakland, CA. In their work, they are dedicated to reclaiming and telling the overlooked stories of Black and Queer intersectionality and exploring ways these communities learn to cope with everyday injustices. In 2022, Weaver was awarded the SFFILM FilmHouse Residency. In that time, Weaver wrote and directed Companion, a short film which screened at Mill Valley Film Festival, BlackStar, and IndieMemphis. Also, in 2023 they were selected as a Chicken & Egg/ POV Inaugural grantee to develop the short film, Hold Me Close which they are co-directing with Aurora Brachman. Currently, Weaver is developing their first feature No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds: A Queer Inclusive Memoir, a dark comedy challenging identity politics amidst the ever-gentrifying Bay Area.

Born in Olongapo, Philippines, and raised across San Diego and Houston, Kayla Abuda Galang is an award-winning filmmaker whose work draws from the funny minutiae of her communities, surroundings, and memory. Her latest film, When You Left Me On That Boulevard, made its debut at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize. She was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2023. In 2024, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, becoming a member of the Short Films branch. She is currently in development for her debut feature.

Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma is a freelance director, animator, and fine artist from and based in New York. She is a RISD animation alumnus, a Glas and Jerome grant recipient, and a Student Academy Award gold medalist for her film “Ciervo”. Outside of her commercial work, she makes a variety of short films ranging in style and genre, some of which have been shown at festivals like Slamdance, Annecy, RIIFF, Animest, and Animafest Zagreb. Pilar primarily works with 2D cel animation and often uses mixed media elements in her films by combining traditional and digital techniques. As a whole, her work ranges from fiction and fantastical to poetic and metaphorical, and often deals with human interpersonal dynamics paired with themes of womanhood, family, and our relationship to the natural world.

Faye is a Greek-American documentary filmmaker born in New York City, based between Los Angeles and New York. She was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema in 2023 and was a fellow at the AFI Cinematography Intensive for Women in 2024. Her creative non-fiction work documents strains of contemporary American culture in the context of late-stage capitalism, looking at youth culture, excess, disparity and absurdity -- shifting away from the patriarchal gaze. Her latest film, Christmas, Every Day, premiered at SXSW Film Festival domestically and Hot Docs internationally, and will be available to stream on the NYTimes Op-Docs platform later this year. Her film Alpha Kings is now available to stream on The New Yorker. Her work has also screened at IFFR, True/False Film Festival, AFI Fest, Camden Film Festival, Champs Elysées Film Festival, Rooftop Films, and Palm Springs International ShortFest, among others, and has been distributed and featured by Vimeo Staff Picks, Nowness, and Paper Magazine.

Faye was a Film Independent Producing Fellow in 2023 and she previously served as VP Development & Production for Los Angeles based Passage Pictures, overseeing development for the company alongside its CEO. She was Director of Acquisitions & Production for independent Film & Television distribution company FilmRise, where she sought to bring new and unique voices to the forefront; she championed the release of award winning documentary and narrative films, including Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Faye has served on multiple juries and industry panels, including the jury of the Bushwick Film Festival 2019. She participated as an executive decision-maker in the IFP Project Forum, the Hot Docs Project Forum, and the Sheffield DocFest project MeetMarket for several consecutive years. She currently is a Feature Film Programmer for the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

She received her BA in American Studies from Cornell University and her MFA in Documentary Film & Video at Stanford University.

Tanmay is a filmmaker who works across a breadth of mediums including music videos, narratives, documentaries, and commercials. His work tends to be focused on his roots as a South Asian immigrant, shedding light on stories that have often escaped the mainstream. His narrative films have played at several international film festivals including the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam, BFI London Film Festival, Slamdance, SXSW, Camerimage, Festival Du Nouveau Cinema, and Edinburgh International Film Festival. His most recent film ‘Leela’ had its world premiere at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. His narrative short ‘Madhu’ was awarded a Special Mention at the Palm Springs International Shortfest and was screened at 40+ international film festivals including New Directors/New Films at the Museum of Modern Art. Tanmay has collaborated with major artists like Young the Giant and Raveena and his music video work has garnered recognition on various international platforms including Nowness, Vogue, and Rolling Stone. His work with music artist Madam Gandhi was awarded the Grand Jury at SXSW in 2020. A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Tanmay founded a boutique production house called Peru Films in 2020 to champion underrepresented voices. Peru films got featured by Google as an Asian-owned business that is to keep an eye out for.

Jo Firestone works as the head writer for After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson. She is the author of one murder mystery novel called Murder on Sex Island.

Mischa Hedinger (born in 1984) is a filmmaker and editor. He studied video at the Lucerne School of Art and Design, and film at ECAL in Lausanne. In 2019, his first feature documentary AFRICAN MIRROR premiered at the Berlinale and was nominated for the Swiss Film Award. 2023 his short film FÄLLE (INCIDENCES), co-directed with Michela Flück, premiered at Filmfestival Rotterdam. Hedinger lives and works in Zürich.

Michela Flück (born in 1983) lives in Zurich and studied scenography and stage design at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste as well as at the Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien. Since 2013 she works as a freelance stage and costume designer for drama, dance, opera and film. She worked among others for Deutsche Oper and Volksbühne Berlin, at Münchner Kammerspiele, Burgtheater and Schauspiel Köln. „Fälle“ is her first film as a co-director and premiered at Filmfetival Rotterdam.

After graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in film and digital media, Max spent twelve
years twisting balloons for kids' birthday parties, occasionally making short animated films on
the side. Eventually he began experimenting with balloons in stop-motion animation. During the
pandemic, Max made the film Baloney Beacon, which was featured at numerous film festivals
including Slamdance and the Florida Film Festival. In 2022, Max was commissioned to make an
animated title sequence for the Adult Swim series Off The Air, which was featured in season 12,
episode 1 titled Nonsense. Max is currently working on several animated projects and continues
to entertain at parties with his balloon twisting.

Rhea Shukla is a writer and director based between India and New York. Her work focuses on stories that explore themes of gaze, identity, and gender, giving voice to women’s experiences often absent from mainstream discourse. She is currently pursuing her MFA in film at Columbia University. She is known for her collaboration on Madam Gandhi’s “Waiting for Me,” which won the Grand Jury Award at South by Southwest and was featured in Vogue, Rolling Stone, and Nowness and her work as a creative producer on the short film 'Madhu' which won a Special Mention Jury Award at Palm Springs and was showcased at IFFR Rotterdam, Vienna Shorts, and New Directors/New Films at Lincoln Center, MoMA. Rhea is represented by Peru Films, an international production house based between London, Los Angeles, New York and India.

Maisha Maene is a Congolese screenwriter and director based in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo. As an artist, he works on issues of human rights and the environment. As well as various collaborative projects, Maisha has written and directed five short films. His most recent short film Mulika won a jury prize Pardi di domani at Locarno Film Festival 2022, Best sound design at Dresden Short Film Festival 2023 , Best Film and Best Cinematography at FICKIN’ Film Festival Kinshasa. Mulika was Selected at Sundance Film Festival, Clermont Ferrand and FESPACO. Mulika won the jury prize Best world narrative at the Drunken Film Fest Oakland 2023 and won the jury prize Gold Marghotta award at the Voci dei Boschi Film Festival 2024 in Italy. Maisha Maene was selected to participate in 2024 Berlinale Talents Doc Station lab with his documentary feature film project Spaceman in Kongo which is currently in development.