NISHA GANATRA is a filmmaker known for her singular and authentic vision, was awarded the Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Film Craft: Direction for her film that stormed onto the scene: #wombstories. She directed the Sundance hit film LATE NIGHT starring Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling. LATE NIGHT sold in a record-breaking deal and garnered the highest streaming numbers of the year for Amazon. She followed LATE NIGHT with the Working Title and Focus Features film: THE HIGH NOTE starring Tracee Ellis Ross and Dakota Johnson. Nisha’s upcoming film FREAKIER FRIDAY starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan is set to hit theaters this summer. Nisha was recently ranked the #1 director globally by Cannes, an honor only one other woman has achieved.
ANDREW AHN is a queer Korean American filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Ahn’s latest film THE WEDDING BANQUET starring Lily Gladstone, Bowen Yang, and Kelly Marie Tran premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. His previous film FIRE ISLAND was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won the Ensemble Tribute at the 2023 Gotham Awards and a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Film Streaming/TV. Ahn’s sophomore feature DRIVEWAYS premiered at the 2019 Berlinale and was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards. Ahn’s first film SPA NIGHT premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and won a Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance. The film went on to win the 2017 John Cassavetes Film Independent Spirit Award. Ahn has directed both fiction and documentary television, including shows BRIDGERTON and GENERATION. He has promoted diversity in the arts by mentoring youth filmmakers through programs like Pacific Arts Movement’s Reel Voices, Outfest’s OutSet, and the Sundance Institute’s Native Filmmaker Lab. He graduated from Brown University and received an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).
MAUREEN BHAROOCHA is a Los Angeles based writer/director. Maureen’s feature debut was the HBO arm wrestling comedy, GOLDEN ARM. She recently directed her 2nd feature film, THE PRANK, a dark comedy starring Rita Moreno, Keith David and Ramona Young which premiered at SXSW 2022.
AHMED IBRAHIM is an Egyptian American director and filmmaker based in New York and Los Angeles. Ibrahim studied law at Alexandria University before moving to New York where he graduated from NYU majoring in film, and immigration patterns in media. In New York, Ibrahim joined the Shirin Neshat Studio in 2011 where he worked as a producer and assistant director. His short film, NOOR, screened at over thirty film festivals worldwide, winning awards including Best Muhr Arab Short at the Dubai International Film Festival. His first feature film, set in Cairo and Brooklyn, has already received the Dubai Film Connection development award. Ibrahim is also a 2018 Half Foundation fellow of the Ryan Murphy Television Directing Mentorship Program.
FAWZIA MIRZA is a queer, South Asian Muslim writer and director. Fawzia’s directorial feature debut THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS world premiered TIFF 2023, was nominated for the Jean Marc Valée DGC Discovery Award, named to ‘Canada’s Top Ten 2023’ and she won ‘Best Director Feature’ by the Director’s Guild of Canada. QUEEN had its international premiere at the BFI London Film Festival where it was nominated for the Sutherland First Feature Award and had its US premiere at SXSW in March 2024. THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS was in TIFF’s 2020 Writer Studio and Filmmaker Lab and stars Amrit Kaur, Nimra Bucha, Hamza Haq, and Ayana Manji. The film was nominated for 5 Canadian Screen Awards winning Best Lead Performance in a Drama and Best Original Song. She is a Sundance/Disney Fellow, a Sundance Creative Advisor, a White House Champion of Change in Asian American Art & Storytelling, an alum of the Tribeca Film Institute All-Access Program and the Canadian Academy Directors Program for Women, a Ryan Murphy Half-Initiative mentee, a ‘Yes, And Laughter Lab’ Winner, an Islamic Scholarship Fund Winner, a TIFF Canadian Women Filmmaker Honoree, has been nominated for The Iris Prize, and her feature script HEIRLOOM was named to the 2022 Muslim List, published by The Black List.