Bethiael Alemayoh is an Eritrean & Ethiopian-American filmmaker based in NYC and Texas. Her work often follows young Black women in the midst of the little misfortunes that are causing big impacts on their psyche.

After interning for director Richard Linklater, she created and directed the short film series, We Are, which was distributed by Issa Rae Productions and has amassed 400k views and counting.

Her latest short film, Dressed, premiered at SXSW and her work has also screened at BlackStar Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, The Bullock State History Museum, and more. She is a recipient of the New York Women in Film and Television Scholarship.

Currently, she’s studying film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts graduate program and working on her first feature.

Xenia Matthews is an innovative film and visual artist whose glittering, hyper-saturated work explores personal experiences of black womanhood, the body, and the soul —externalizing what often only exists internally.

Her impactful work has been recognized by Filmmaker Magazine in “25 New Faces of Independent Film” and by festivals like BlackStar, Indie Memphis, and Sundance. In the future, she seeks to create immersive installation experiences and is currently working on her first feature film.

Eva Reign is a Peabody and GLAAD Award winning Brooklyn-based actress, writer and artist from St. Louis, Missouri. She is the star of Billy Porter’s directorial debut Anything’s Possible from Amazon Studios and MGM’s Orion Pictures. Eva is also known for her work as a correspondent and producer on the Vice show "Transnational,” an award-winning series documenting trans issues worldwide. She previously worked at the Condé Nast LGBTQ platform Them. as Assistant Editor before going on to launch her own column at the platform "In Bloom: The Life Column with Eva Reign." This column focused on the beauty and strength of the Black trans community. Her other writing has appeared in Vogue, The Cut, Byrdie, PAPER and Highsnobiety. In 2021, she was mentored by renowned artist and filmmaker Tourmaline through the Queer|Art|Mentorship program.

Elegance Bratton is an award-winning and boundary-breaking director, writer and producer. He began making films as a US Marine after spending a decade homeless. His work captures stories untold with an intention to show the universal power of our shared humanity. Bratton’s films have played in over 200 film festivals worldwide including the New York Film Festival, Toronto, Sundance, Outfest, BFI, Doc NYC, and the BlackStar Film Festival. He was recently named one of VARIETY’s 10 Directors to Watch for 2023.

Bratton made his television debut as the creator and executive producer of Viceland’s MY HOUSE. The series, which chronicled underground competitive ballroom dancing, was nominated for Outstanding Documentary at the 2019 GLAAD Media Awards.

In 2021, Bratton’s critically-acclaimed feature documentary, PIER KIDS, won the Independent Spirit Awards’ Truer Than Fiction Award, which is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. PIER KIDS explores the lives of Black, homeless queer and transgender youth in New York.

THE INSPECTION, his semi-autobiographical narrative fiction debut, world premiered as the opening night film of the Toronto International Film Festival Discovery section and was the closing night film of the New York Film Festival. The critically-acclaimed A24 film centers around a young homeless gay man who joins the Marine Corps to win back his mother’s love, but learns how to respect himself at bootcamp. The film won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Independent Motion Picture and has garnered numerous award nominations including from the Golden Globes, Gothams, and Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Bratton is currently in post-production on the upcoming feature documentary, HELLFIGHTERS, which highlights the story of African American Jazz pioneer and music mogul James Reese Europe, who was a lieutenant in the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters.

Bratton also co-runs the production company, Freedom Principle, alongside his producing partner, Chester Algernal Gordon.

He was a Sundance 2020 Native Lab mentor and a 2022 Outfest Screenwriting Lab mentor. Bratton holds a BS from Columbia University (2014) and MFA from NYU Tisch Graduate Film (2019).

He and his partner live in Baltimore.

Chester Algernal Gordon is a producer, costume designer and stylist with a passion for making powerful stories that capture the imagination and inspire. They began working in film production in 2016, and since then Gordon has costumed three Lionsgate feature films, 17 short films, and has produced award-winning films that have played in festivals worldwide including the New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, BFI, Outfest, Reykjavik International Film Festival and New Orleans Film Festival. Gordon’s latest film, Elegance Bratton’s critically-acclaimed THE INSPECTION, starring Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union, released in theaters on November 18. The A24 film centers around a young homeless gay man who joins the Marine Corps to win back his mother’s love, but learns how to respect himself at bootcamp. The film has garnered numerous award nominations including from the Golden Globes, Gothams, and Film Independent Spirit Awards. Gordon co-runs the production company, Freedom Principle, alongside Bratton.

Gordon has produced numerous acclaimed short films and the 2019 feature documentary, PIER KIDS, which won a Truer Than Fiction award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Best Poster Design award at the Indie Memphis Film Festival, the Jury Prize at the Sarasota Film Festival, amongst other accolades. They are currently in post-production on the upcoming feature documentary, HELLFIGHTERS, which highlights the story of African American Jazz pioneer and music mogul James Reese Europe, who was a lieutenant in the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters.

This self-taught Maryland native expertly straddles the world of high fashion and film. They were a producer for the MIPCOM 2018 winner, GLAAD-nominated documentary TV series MY HOUSE for Viceland. Gordon’s short, -SHIP: A VISUAL POEM, won best US narrative short at Sundance Film Festival 2020. They were named the winner of the Tribeca Film Institute’s 2019 TFI All Access Grant and TFI Pond5 Program and was a 2019 Film Independent Producing Lab & Fast Track Lab fellow. Their work as a stylist has been published in magazines such as Glamour, Galore, Esquire, and many others and they have worked with noted photographers Mick Rock and Pari Dukovic.