Arun Bhattarai (he/him) premiered his first feature-length documentary The Next Guardian at IDFA. It has played at over 50 film festivals around the world. His short Mountain Man won the grand jury prize for shorts films at DOC-NYC. His films have been supported by The Sundance Film Institute, Catapult Film Fund, IDFA-Bertha Fund.

Jalena Keane-Lee (she/her) is a filmmaker who was named a 2023 Adobe x Sundance Woman to Watch, won Tribeca Through Her Lens 2020, and DocPitch 2022. Jalena co-founded Breaktide Productions, an all-women of color production company and is currently working on her first feature documentary which is set to premiere in 2024.

Julie Wyman (she/her) has a lived experience of hypochondroplasia dwarfism that informs her filmmaking. Her 2012 ITVS co-production STRONG! aired on Independent Lens. Her work is supported by Sundance, Sandbox, Ford Foundation, IDA, SF Film Society, Points North, Creative Capital, CalHumanities and NEH. She is an Associate Professor of Cinema at UC Davis.

Marissa Chibás (she/her/ella) is an award-winning Cuban American Sundance Fellow, Athena awards finalist, and #1 Amazon new release author. Her work encompasses multi-lingual performance, writing, and filmmaking. Her films have screened at; Anthology Film Archive, NFMLA, and Fabrica de Arte in Havana, among others. She is Director of Duende CalArts.

Naveen Chaubal (he/him) is a non-fiction filmmaker based in Louisville, Kentucky whose projects explore intimate spaces of immigrant suburbia. He is a fellow of BAVC Media Maker, Sundance Institute’s Uprise grant, Film Independent’s Project: Involve, and the Firelight Documentary Lab.

Otilia Portillo Padua (she/her) is a Mexican director. She studied architecture at Cambridge University and the Architectural Association, London. Her works include Three Voices, which premiered at SXSW and the Netflix short documentary Birders. She is a grant recipient of the National Young Creator’s Fund, the National Film Institute, the Sundance Institute and the Redford Center.

Shrihari Sathe (he/him) is a New York-based director and producer. Sathe won the 2019 Independent Spirit Award – Producers Award and the 2016 Cinereach Producer Award. He is a Visiting Assistant Arts Professor at New York University and has taught at various universities over the last decade. Sathe is a member of the PGA and AMPAS.

StormMiguel Florez (he/him) is a multi-hyphenate filmmaker, whose work includes The Whistle, MAJOR!, and Vulveeta. He’s currently developing his feature narrative directorial debut, Welcome To Roswell, which has garnered national attention from receiving an SFFILM/Rainin grant, and being selected for the Inaugural Sundance Trans Possibilities Intensive.

Sura Mallouh (she/her) is a Palestinian-Canadian documentary filmmaker. Her work has been supported by Sundance, the IDA, and the Tribeca Film Institute, and she was a 2021 NBC Original Voices Fellow and a DocNYC 40 under 40. Sura’s documentaries focus on contextualizing underrepresented stories with an investigative thread throughout.

Walé Oyéjidé (he/him) is a filmmaker, writer & designer who employs beauty as a weapon to combat bias. His debut feature film Bravo, Burkina! premiered at Sundance Film Festival. His designs have appeared in major motion pictures (including Black Panther and Coming 2 America), and have been exhibited in museums across the globe.