ʻĀina Paikai is a native Hawaiian filmmaker that aims to amplify Pacific and  indigenous voices in media. Paikai earned his B.A. from the University of Hawaiʻi’s Academy for Creative Media, where he studied indigenous aesthetics under the pioneer filmmaker from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Merata Mita.  He started his career at ʻŌiwiTV, Hawaiʻi’s only indigenous television broadcast company, where he was a producer on MELE MURALS (2016), a documentary on the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancient Hawaiian culture. A  Sundance Native Lab Fellow and crew member of the voyaging canoe, Hōkūleʻa, Paikai is the founder of his independent film production company, Kamaʻāina Creations.  He wrote and acted in the award-winning short-film, DOWN ON THE SIDEWALK IN WAIKĪKĪ (2019), inspired by the life and words of poet Wayne Kaumualii Westlake.  His latest short-film, HAWAIIAN SOUL (2020), is a drama that celebrates the music and message of George Helm Jr., the famed musician and activist that helped to stop the target bombing’s on the island of Kahoʻolawe.  From 2020-2022, HAWAIIAN SOUL won Best Short Film awards at 6 international film festivals and qualified to be nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the 2023 Oscars.

Matthew Dekneef is a Native Hawaiian writer, born and raised on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. His writing draws inspiration from his oceanic homeland and often explores the moral complexities faced by its island communities. As a journalist, he is the editor of Flux Hawaii, a Pacific Islander-focused arts and culture publication, and formerly the editor of Lei, a travel platform for the LGBTQ community. He has reported on Hawaiian history, current events, and indigeneity for The New York Times, T Magazine, Them, SSENSE, Teen Vogue, and others. Most recently, he was a fellow in Gold House’s new producer accelerator and served as co-producer on MOLOKA‘I BOUND, the second feature from writer-director Alika Tengan, produced by Nina Yang Bongiovi and Forest Whitaker. In 2022, he was part of CAPE’s New Writers Fellowship for emerging Asian and Pacific Islander TV writers. In 2021, he was selected for the Susan M. Haas Fellowship, a TV writing program started by writer-director Cord Jefferson for journalists. He is repped by 3 Arts.

Sarah Hisae is an Asian and Pacific Islander filmmaker. As a Hawai’i Native, working with local films touching on authentic Hawai’i stories has been the highlight of her budding career in film; some of which include, Every Day in Kaimukī, and short, soon to be released feature, Moloka‘i Bound as a Co-Producer. While film and theater have always been a great passion, she believes they can be some of the best ways to learn and teach.

Yeon Jin was born in South Korea and raised in Seoul, Jakarta, and Southern California. She earned her B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley. In her junior year, she interned at Pixar and fell in love with filmmaking. Upon graduation, she worked for five years at NASA then moved to Los Angeles to pursue her passion. In December 2020, she earned her MFA in Film / TV Production from USC School of Cinematic Arts where she received the Annenberg Fellowship for excellence in producing. Yeon Jin produced THE BALL METHOD, starring Kiersey Clemons. The film was accepted to DGA Student Film Awards (Jury Prize), featured on NPR Science Friday, and distributed on Kanopy. Yeon Jin wrote and produced JACK AND LOU: A GANGSTER LOVE STORY, an audio drama series starring Lisa Kudrow. She is also one of the writers of the upcoming feature film based on the same story. Her feature screenplay, SILICON VALLEY GIRL, was supported by 2022 The Black List Feature Lab (mentors: Phil Hay, Guinevere Turner, Michael Mitnick) and 2023 Almanack Screenwriters October Colony (mentors: Adele Lim, Natalie Difford, So Yong Kim). She’s in the 2023 cohort of the WGA Writers Access Support Staff Training Program.