Tara Violet Niami is a queer Iranian-British Australian American cinematographer, filmmaker and award-winning photographer based in LA. She is a graduate of American Film Institute Conservatory. Tara’s cinematography feature debut was indie psychological thriller-horror film EYE WITHOUT A FACE. Tara’s work has screened at festivals including Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival, and Beyond the Curve International Film Festival and been featured in publications like Billboard and the NY Times. Tara is currently attached to several upcoming films.

Brooke Marine is the deputy culture editor of The Cut at New York magazine, where she oversees coverage of books, television, movies, music, and celebrity. She was previously the culture editor of W magazine, where she worked across digital and print, covering award-winning filmmakers and showrunners, Hollywood’s next generation of performers, art world power players, and launched the annual TV portfolio.

Tchaiko’s filmmaking is influenced by growing up as a Third Culture Kid. She lived in 8 different countries by age 16 and enjoys recreating this adventurous experience in her work. She centers ethical practices of care, process, intuition and deep listening to her body, dreams, and the magic of motherhood.

Her debut feature film Solace, about a Black girl navigating an eating disorder is streaming on Paramount +, Kweli TV, Apple TV and Amazon. The film features Hope Olaide Wilson, Chelsea Tavares, Lynn Whitfield, and Glynn Turman. It won Special Jury Mention for Best Ensemble cast at LA Film Festival and Audience Award at New Orleans Film Festival. Her fantasy short film Sita, exhibited in the Project Row House show “Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter”, co-curated by Simone Leigh. Tchaiko’s episodic work began on Season 4 of Queen Sugar, followed by Cherish The Day Season 2 and SACRIFICE Season 2. She directs commercials with Unicorns + Unicorns.

Ashley Clark is a film programmer, writer, and critic. He was born in London, lives in Jersey City, and works in Manhattan as the curatorial director of the Criterion Collection. Previously, he was director of film programming at Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is the author of the book Facing Blackness: Media and Minstrelsy in Spike Lee's Bamboozled.

Blair McClendon is a director, editor and writer living in New York City. His work as a filmmaker includes the award-winning essay film America for Americans, which has played in festivals and at universities in the United States and Europe, and the short narrative I'm The One Who's Singing. His editorial work spans documentary and fiction and has played at Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, TIFF as well as other festivals around the world. He most recently edited Charlotte Wells' Aftersun. His writing has been published in n+1, The New York Times Magazine, and The New Yorker.

Yasmina Price is a writer, programmer, and PhD student in the departments of African American Studies and Film and Media Studies at Yale University. She focuses on anticolonial cinema from the Global South and the work of visual artists across the African continent and diaspora, with a particular interest in the experimental work of women filmmakers. Yasmina has interviewed filmmakers and participated in panels on Black film and revolutionary cultural production organized by The Maysles Documentary Center, International Documentary Association, New York Film Festival, and more, while her series "In the Images, Behind the Camera: Women’s Political Cinema 1959-1992" played at the BAMCinematek in May, 2022. Recent writing has appeared in Art in America, Aperture, Criterion’s Current and Film Quarterly.

Maya S. Cade is the creator and curator of Black Film Archive, a scholar-in-residence at the Library of Congress, and programmer-in-residence at Indiana University's cinema. She has been awarded special distinctions by the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics for the Archive. Originally hailing from New Orleans, Maya is based in Brooklyn.

Rōgan Graham is a freelance film journalist and programmer from South London, with a background in cinema marketing. Her writing has appeared in Little White Lies, i-D and Total Film and has a focus on Black British cinema and depictions of pop-stardom on screen, having recently presented a sell-out screening of Glitter (2001) at London's Barbican Centre and in 2021 was the commissioning editor of The Underground Railroad FYC awards book.

Sydney Urbanek is a freelance writer and editor based out of Toronto, and a contributing editor at Bright Wall/Dark Room. She writes mostly about things at the intersection of pop music and moving images, including in her newsletter Mononym Mythology. Her work has otherwise appeared in Billboard, the Guardian, Sight and Sound, CBC Arts, and elsewhere.

Jessica Chriesman is a filmmaker based in Birmingham, Alabama. She has worked as a director, producer, researcher, and/or DP on projects for Twin Cities Public TV, Southern Foodways Alliance, Vox Creative, Alabama Public Television, Dirty Robber and more. She is the Director of Education and Outreach at Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema where she plans learning opportunities through the lens of film and media. In 2021, Jessica was named a Morgridge Acceleration Program Fellow working with the Jane Goodall Institute on their storytelling strategies. She has served as a grants panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Larry Karaszewski and his writing/directing/producing partner Scott Alexander are best known for writing unusual true stories. They created the hit television miniseries “The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” for which they won the Golden Globe, the Emmy, the PGA and WGA Awards. They also won a Golden Globe and WGA Award for the film “The People vs Larry Flynt.” Other movies include the Oscar winning “Ed Wood”(WGA nomination), “Big Eyes”(Independent Spirit nomination), “Auto Focus", “Man on the Moon” and “Dolemite is My Name” which was directed by Memphis filmmaker Craig Brewer. Larry is a Governor for the writers branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and currently serves as the Academy’s Vice President of Film Preservation and History.

Brandon Harris is the president of I'd Watch That, which he co-founded with Shaka King in 2021. A long time contributing editor to Filmmaker Magazine, he is the author of MAKING RENT IN BED-STUY (2017), director of REDLEGS (2012) and a recovering Hollywood studio executive.

Kate is a recent graduate of Emerson College, a Sundance Catalyst Fellow, and the founder and president of DEDZA Films, a boutique film distributor & hybrid consulting agency dedicated to bringing nuanced films by underrepresented filmmakers to new audiences. The company's first release WHO WILL START ANOTHER FIRE, an anthology film featuring nine works by emerging filmmakers of color released in partnership with Kino Lorber, is now available on Criterion Channel. Other recent releases include the award-winning and Oscar Shortlisted film FAYA DAYI and the Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman’s visionary film NEPTUNE FROST which premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and screened at TIFF, NYFF, Berline and Sundance Film Festivals. Additionally, Kate is also a campaign manager at NEON working on films released through the boutique distribution label SUPER.

Kate dedicates her career to amplifying and creatively supporting exciting, diverse storytellers with a focus on the global south from early development to distribution in independent cinema. Kate was named one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine.

Faridah Gbadamosi is a film curator and culture critic working towards making the space more inclusive. In particular, her interests are in changing the space of tastemakers and rethinking the models for curation and exhibition. She has worked in various roles at different film festivals and other film organizations, including the California Film Institute, Athena Film Festival, SIFF, and many more. She recently worked as the Artistic Director of Outfest during its 40th anniversary. In addition to her programming roles, she has also worked as the Director of Distribution at Open Your Eyes and Think MF, the distribution wing of David Magdael & Associates, a consultant on different film projects, and a freelance culture critic. She recently joined the Tribeca Festival team as a Senior Programmer.

Originally hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, Laure Bender is a short film programmer and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. She has screened short films for Sundance Film Festival, SFFilm, Camden International Film Festival, and New Orleans Film Festival, among others. Presently, Laure serves as the Manager of Public Programs at Sundance Institute where she produces screenings and filmmaker events for students and emerging artists. Previously, she worked in new play development for Sundance Institute’s Theater Program. Laure is currently working on a short story, titled “Teeth.”

Soraya Nadia McDonald is the senior cultural critic for Andscape (formerly known as The Undefeated). She writes about film, television, and the arts. She is the 2020 winner of the George Jean Nathan prize for dramatic criticism, a 2020 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism, and the runner-up for the 2019 Vernon Jarrett Medal for outstanding reporting on Black life. She was a contributing editor for Film Comment and has contributed criticism to Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

Soraya was a 2018 Eugene O’Neill National Critics Institute fellow and she is a member of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, the National Society of Film Critics, and the Television Critics Association. She is a member of the board of trustees of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Before joining Andscape in 2016, she covered pop culture for the Washington Post, where she focused on issues surrounding race, gender, and sexuality. Soraya graduated from Howard University with a degree in journalism in 2006. She spent six years covering sports before turning her focus to culture writing. Soraya grew up in North Carolina and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Maria Santos joined the International Documentary Association as the Funds Program Officer in September 2022. She oversees all of the funding grants and provides year-round creative and strategic support to all supported artists. Previously, she was the Manager of Labs and Artist Support at the Sundance Documentary Film Program, since September 2020. Originally from Peru, Maria is an independent film producer who has worked in distribution as well as artist development at organizations including ARRAY and Cinereach. Maria assisted on films such as Maya Matangi MIA by Steve Loveridge, We The Animals by Jeremiah Zagar, and most recently was an Assistant Producer for Jim McKay’s, On The Seventh Day. In 2018, Maria was selected as a Film Society Industry Academy member and became a Third World Newsreel Production fellow. Her work explores gender, race, sex, kinship, and identity through the stories and lives of underrepresented characters.

Mandy Marcus is a filmmaker based in New York City. She is a recipient of the 2020 National Board of Review Student Grant, the 2020 Gotham Focus Features Student Showcase Award and a semi-finalist in the 2021 Shondaland SeriesFest Women Directing Fellowship and the 2022 Ryan Murphy Half-Initiative Fellowship. Her short film "Cousins" won best short film at Indie Memphis Film Festival in 2021 and runner up for the Jury Award at the Nitehawk Shorts Festival in 2022. Her work has screened at New Orleans Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Third Horizon Film Festival and more. Mandy has a BA in media studies from Pomona College and an MFA in directing from Brooklyn College.

Brittney Boyd Bullock born and raised in Memphis Tennessee has worked as Project Manager at the Urban Art Commission managing the city’s largest public art archive and as the Partnerships and Community Engagement Manager for Crosstown Concourse & Crosstown Arts overseeing a variety of collaborative creative programs and exhibitions. She now holds the position of Youth Program Manager for the Memphis Music Initiative helping to build sustainable relationships with Memphis' youth while implementing youth-led and youth-driven programs. Her passion for cultivating trust and lasting relationships has helped to naturally create opportunities for collaboration with various communities, organizations, and artists that invite participation from a broad range of backgrounds and expertise.

As a former fellow and now mentor of the ArtUp Fellowship, her interests in community engagement and social change has led her to an artistic practice that embraces the idea of redefining why to create, how to create, and for what purpose. In 2017, the Kresge Foundation awarded Bullock and community partner to implement a creative entrepreneurship project by using art as the vehicle for civic practice and social enterprise. As a freelance artist, she is most interested in art that questions and analyzes identity, culture, and the notions of power and ownership.

Coe Lapossy creates works that revel in the subversive, how it sneaks in and makes change, how it works undetected because it must. They revisit artifacts of queerness wedged within a seemingly straight world, creating a meditation on what bodies we value, how we care for some and not others, how we memorialize, and what/whom survives under the conditions we create.

Coe Lapossy is an interdisciplinary visual artist born in Medina, OH. They earned their B.F.A. in Studio Art, Painting from Kent State University in 2006, and in 2013, they earned her M.F.A. from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. They currently live in Memphis, TN, where they serve as Assistant Professor of Art at The University of Memphis . Coe has create sit-specific works for Elsewhere Living Museum, Flansburg Architects Artist In Residency Program, The Boston Center for Arts, and Terrain partnered with CNL Projects, Coe has also exhibited at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Art, Boston, The Howard Art Project, Lesley University, The Museum of Pocket Art (MoPA), and Penn State University.

Coe has been awarded residences at The Provincetown C-Scape Dune Shack Artist Residency and Elsewhere Artist Residency in Greensboro, NC.

Memphis-based artist Mia Saine emerged into commercial illustration and design by advocating and visualizing humanistic narratives. The non-binary, Black creative seeks to share positive, inclusive visual storytelling about marginalized groups with colorful, minimal digital and traditional artwork. Saine rejuvenates tropes and stereotypes by showcasing minorities embracing their livelihood, community, empowerment, and happiness. They collaborate with others like Google, Youtube, Instagram, and more to inspire others to spread awareness and uplift each other to create a better tomorrow.