Estrella Araiza is the General Director of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) and Cineteca FICG, keeping the professional focus on Mexican and Latin American cinema in both projects. Her career includes experience as director of Industry and Market of the FICG, as a sales agent, an academic, and a cinema distributor in Mexico. She began her career in international distribution in 2005; by 2012 she began activities with her own company Vendo Cine. She has been part of the Jury in International Film Festivals, and has also collaborated and participated in international film markets. Since 2018, she has been in charge of the FICG special projects, one of them Guillermo del Toro’s At Home with Monsters exhibition in Guadalajara.

Marie Lamboeuf began her career in the film industry in 2017 and has since held various roles within international sales agencies. Her experience ranges from serving as Marketing Manager at Celluloid Dreams (Custody by Xavier Legrand, 3 Faces by Jafar Panahi), to Head of Festivals at Luxbox (1976 by Manuela Martelli, Under the Fig Trees by Erige Sehiri, 20,000 Species of Bees by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren), and most recently as Sales & Acquisitions Manager at Urban Sales (If Only I Could Hibernate by Zoljargal Purevdash, Pictures of Ghosts by Kleber Mendonça Filho, Fox & Hare Save the Forest by Mascha Halberstadt). She currently works as a freelancer with Salaud Morisset, a sales outfit for both short and feature films, supporting their growth and development. In addition, she collaborates with various co-production markets and film commissions. Marie is an EAVE Puentes alumna and a member of the European Film Academy.

Vera Brunner-Sung is a filmmaker working across experimental, documentary, and narrative, exploring the intersections of identity and place. Her work has been presented at festivals, museums, and galleries in the U.S. and abroad, including Sundance, the Torino Film Festival, CPH:DOX, Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, MoMA PS1, San Francisco International Film Festival, Ann Arbor, Images, and the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Her first feature, Bella Vista, had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2014 (Bright Future); her award-winning sophomore feature Bitterroot (Nonetheless/Spark Features/Louverture Films) premiered in the US Narrative Competition at the 2024 Tribeca Festival. Vera’s films have been supported by SFFILM, the Wexner Center for the Arts, The Gotham, the National Park Service, and others. She is a 2015 Center for Asian American Media Fellow, a 2020 Sundance FilmTwo Fellow, and a 2022 Sundance Institute Asian American Fellow. Vera has written about films and filmmakers for publications including Sight & Sound and Cinema Scope. She is an associate professor in the Department of Radio/Televison/Film at Northwestern University.

Theodora Barat is a filmmaker, visual artist, and researcher. Based in France, she is a professor at Nantes School of Art. Combining film, photography, and installation, she focuses on the various manifestations and incarnations of the techno-capitalist paradigm—at the foundation of our “modern” societies. Her trilogy Pay-Less Monument (2018), Off Power (2021), and Americium (2024) is devoted to the destructive exploitation of chosen territories and the intertwining of capitalism and energy. Her work has been exhibited and discussed in various institutions in France and abroad. Her films have been screened at numerous international film festivals and are distributed by Light Cone.

Lisa Cortés is a two-time Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated director and producer known for creating bold, transformative stories that illuminate hidden narratives. From executive-producing the Academy Award®-winning Precious to directing and producing the Emmy-winning Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023), she has consistently championed underrepresented voices and sparked cultural change through her work. Her acclaimed documentaries include The Space Race (National Geographic Documentary Films), a gripping exploration of African American astronauts at NASA and in space, which earned the prestigious duPont-Columbia Award; All In: The Fight for Democracy (2020), chronicling the ongoing struggle for voting rights; the NAACP Image Award-winning Invisible Beauty, about fashion pioneer Bethann Hardison; and the Emmy-winning The Apollo (2019), which celebrates the historic Apollo Theater’s role in African American culture. Based in New York City, her multimedia production company, Cortés Filmworks, creates scripted, unscripted, and branded content across music, popular culture, and true crime genres. Most recently, the company completed Murder Has Two Faces, a true crime series for Hulu, which Cortés directed and produced—further expanding its dynamic portfolio and reaffirming her commitment to telling complex, powerful stories from fresh perspectives.

Abbie Perrault is a documentary filmmaker and journalist based in Chicago, Illinois. She is a director and producer of the 2024 documentary Zurawski v Texas, which premiered at Telluride Film Festival. Previously she produced At The Ready, premiering in the U.S. Documentary Competition at Sundance Film Festival in 2021 and streaming on MAX. She associate produced the documentary shorts An Abortion in Mississippi and Reproductive Rights Road Trip for The Intercept and was the impact producer on the Emmy-award winning documentary Jackson, which premiered on Showtime in 2016. Her previous work as managing editor of The Big Bend Sentinel and Presidio International newspapers in Marfa, Texas has been recognized by the Texas Press Association for general excellence and her reporting received awards for outstanding feature writing and outstanding news writing. Her film work has been supported by the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund, The Gotham, Catapult Film Fund, Ford Foundation, XTR, and the Austin Film Society, and she was a 2019 fellow in New Orleans Film Society’s Southern Producers Lab.

haydée “hr” souffrant is a Chicago-based Haitian American writer, interdisciplinary producer, and film programmer. Her work has included leading artist services programs developing documentary and narrative film, theater and visual performance art centering healing and restorative justice practices for artists of color, educators, youth,and adult audiences. stories probing the intersections of intergenerational trauma healing and cultural legacies. souffrant has served as a film programmer for Chicago Filmmakers’ REELING 2023-2025 Film Festivals; juried for The Gotham, True/False Film Festival, Milwaukee Film Festival, Hot Springs Documentary Film Forum; is an Endorser of the DAWG Framework; was the Associate Producer for the 2021 BBC Award winning Audio Drama Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery and currently serves as the Director of Programs with Kartemquin Films. She is a proud member of Mezcla Media Collective, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, IFA Chicago, and Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA).

Erik Gernand is a Chicago-based playwright and filmmaker. His play The Totality of All Things won a Jeff Award for Best New Work for its 2024 production at Redtwist Theatre in Chicago. His plays have been produced around the country, including at The Barrow Group (New York City), Actors Theatre of Louisville, The ROAD Theatre Company (Los Angeles), and City Theatre (Miami), and have been published by Dramatic Publishing and Smith & Kraus. As a director and screenwriter, his award-winning short films have screened at more than 100 film festivals around the world including SXSW, Cinequest, Outfest, Palm Springs International Shortfest, and the Chicago International Film Festival. His films have been broadcast on IFC, PBS, and The Logo Channel, and have been distributed by Strand Releasing and First Run Features. Erik is a Professor of Instruction in Radio-TV-Film at Northwestern University.

Paul Gonter is the Marketing Director at FACETS Film Forum. They received a B.A. in Psychology and English from the University of Central Florida and an M.A. in Literature from Loyola University Chicago. Before joining the FACETS team, they helped establish and run a nonprofit pre-med study abroad program. Paul also runs luffa.online, has written for DINCA.org, and in 2019 was published in Distant Future Utopias, “Volume 1.”

Laurie Little is a Chicago based filmmaker, educator, digital artist/colorist and founder of the production company Luminist Films. As a documentarian, she uses an observational style to focus on personal stories and social justice issues to help motivate discussion and mobilize advocacy. Her award-winning films and collaborations have screened in film festivals worldwide. Laurie’s most recent film, as Producer, with director Rana Segal, The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells is currently on the festival circuit and won an Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival at its World Premiere. Little’s film Musher following the lives of four female sled dog racers on the Lake Superior south shore race circuit, co-directed and produced with Anu Rana is currently streaming on PBS, Amazon, and Apple TV. Little holds a BFA in Visual Arts from York University and an MFA in Cinema and Television Arts from Columbia College Chicago where she teaches Media classes. She also teaches Documentary Production at the College of DuPage.

Rachel Elizabeth Seed is an LA-based nonfiction storyteller working in film, photography, and writing. Her debut feature film A Photographic Memory, distributed by Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber, is a New York Times Critic’s Pick and was called “one of the best docs of the year” by RogerEbert.com. It was awarded a 2025 Truer Than Fiction Spirit Award and was nominated for a 2025 Cinema Eye Honors Spotlight Award. Rachel’s work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Chicken + Egg Pictures, NYFA, Field of Vision, the Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, the Jewish Film Institute, Jewish Story Partners, and the IFP/Gotham Labs, and many others. Formerly a photo editor at New York Magazine, her photography has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography, and she was a cameraperson on several award-winning feature documentaries including SACRED by Academy-Award-winning filmmaker Thomas Lennon. Rachel is co-founder and executive director of the Brooklyn Documentary Club, a NYC film collective with more than 300 members.

Linh Tran is a Chicago-based Vietnamese filmmaker whose storytelling journey began in theater before moving on to independent filmmaking. After relocating to the United States in 2013 to pursue higher education, she discovered her passion for visual storytelling, working across both documentary and narrative forms. She earned her MFA in Film & Television from DePaul University. Tran’s work explores childhood memories, the transformative experiences of adulthood, and her own journey reckoning with her identity as a Vietnamese immigrant. Her contemplative approach to filmmaking has garnered significant recognition, including selections at festivals such as Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago Critics Film Festival, Dublin International Film Festival, Athens International Film+Video Festival, and Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival. Tran’s first feature Waiting for the Light to Change won the Narrative Grand Jury Prize at the 29th Slamdance Film Festival. Beyond her work as a writer and director, Tran has established herself as a sought-after editor, crafting narratives for commercials, music videos, short films, and documentary projects. She was named one of Film 50: Chicago Screen Gems in 2024.

Donald Conley is an award-winning director and producer whose work centers on coming-of-age narratives and stories of social justice, often grounded in underrepresented perspectives. Donald was selected as a fellow for the 2020 Almanack Screenwriters Colony and the 2022 Chicago Industry Exchange Lab in recognition of his narrative feature script Marathon. As a producer, he has developed nonfiction work for platforms including Netflix, PBS, and HBOMax. Notably, he served as associate producer on Atlas of the Heart with Brené Brown and producer on Dallas, 2019, a five-part documentary series for Independent Lens and PBS. His short documentary Matriarch (2023) has screened at multiple festivals across the globe, and his recent dramatic short About Time premiered at the 60th Annual Chicago International Film Festival in 2024. Donald is currently directing a feature documentary exploring the 1970 Syracuse 8 boycott and its long-term impact on college football and athlete activism.

Mehrnoosh Fetrat (مهرنوش فطرت) is an Iranian filmmaker based in Chicago. She is currently an assistant professor at Northwestern University and has previously taught at several other institutions, including Drexel University, The College of New Jersey, the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, Temple University, and Saint Joseph’s University. Mehrnoosh has written, produced, and directed three short films: War Game, America (available on Comcast’s Streampix), and Copsi. Her films have been screened at more than 50 film festivals and galleries across the U.S., Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Croatia, Turkey, Iraq, India, and the United Kingdom. She is currently in post-production on two new films. The first is a short fiction film titled Raw, Cooked, Burned. The second is a feature documentary titled Unfinished: Kamran Shirdel.

Hannah Schierbeek is a Chicago based writer, director, and producer. As a producer, Hannah’s credits include The Headhunter’s Daughter (Short Film Grand Jury Prize 2022 Sundance Film Festival) and Vox Humana (2024 TIFF, Gold Hugo 2024 Chicago IFF), directed by Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan; and Video Funeral (2023 Chicago IFF), directed by Linh Tran.  As a director, Hannah’s films explore intimate interpersonal stories backdropped by today’s socio-ecological dilemmas. Her credits include An Alternative Method (2021 BFI Future Film Festival) and A Black Hole Near Kent County (2024 Clermont-Ferrand ISFF). Hannah is an alumni of the 2025 Berlinale Talents.

Gwendolyn Infusino is an award-winning filmmaker with a UCLA MFA in Film & Television Directing/Production and Screenwriting, whose films have played Palm Springs ShortFest, Hammer Museum, LA International, SFIFF, CUFF, abroad in London, Tokyo and more. Notable work includes Netflix development with Nick Bilton and Tiller Russell, directing a short docuseries as Filmmaker in Residence of UCLA Film & Television Archive, managing the production of an Eleanor Coppola film in San Francisco, and shooting on Francis Ford Coppola’s experimental live cinema project. Her background ranges from agency advertising for major brands, to curating the first narrative film series of its kind ever exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Gwen analyzes fiction IP for Media Res Studio and serves as film directing faculty at DePaul University, where she’s now in pre-production on a Project Bluelight film. She is also in development on her first feature film, a genre-bending arthouse thriller.

cai thomas is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer based in Chicago telling intimate stories at the intersection of location, self determination, and identity about Black youth and elders. She grew up in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood and is deeply interested in stories rooted in place. Her filmmaking exhibits how Black folks are agitating and organizing for the world they want, whether that’s a journalist investigating police misconduct (Beneath The Surface, PBS 2023) , a disabled lesbian elder fighting for an accessible apartment (Queenie, Criterion Channel 2020) or young folks organizing for parks named after folks that look like them (Change The Name, BET 2021).

Sadia Uqaili is a Pakistani American award-winning artist, filmmaker, and educator who utilizes the camera and her art to inspire, heal, and celebrate. As a Kartemquin fellow, Sadia is currently producing Bapsi, a feature-length documentary. An indefatigable creative force, Sadia’s work has been exhibited in more than twenty exhibits since her migration to Chicago from Canada. Her work at the South Asia Institute, Seen and Unseen was rated as the top ten exhibits by the Chicago Tribune. Winner of the CSAFF Award, Wild Things was a short film produced under her direction at Snow City Arts, an arts education program serving at-risk youth in hospitals that Sadia led as Artistic Director for 15 years. Before this, she served as the arts mentor at the Edmonton Center for Survivors of Torture and Trauma.  She has recently served on the Jury for the Jonathan Laxamana Emerging Filmmaker Award, at the Asian American showcase.

Duarte Elvas is a Portuguese-born creative director and main title designer based in Chicago, whose work bridges the worlds of cinematic storytelling and motion design. With a BFA in Film and Television and an MFA in Motion Media Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Duarte brings a filmmaker’s eye to the language of animation. His early career was shaped in Lisbon’s leading studios before he returned to the U.S. to deepen his education in Motion Design. Since 2013, Duarte has been an integral part of the acclaimed Sarofsky team, contributing to title sequences and design work for major cinematic releases including Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad, Werewolf by Night, and most recently, Superman. His background in cinematography imbues his work with a tactile, human sensibility. Duarte continues to push the boundaries of narrative-driven design, making him a valued voice in the evolving conversation between film and motion graphics.

Grace Needlman (they/them) is a Chicago-based puppet artist and facilitator. They create visuals and performing objects that inspire collective imagination and bring stories to life. Grace is co-director of the Chicago Puppet Lab, where they work to build equitable pathways for puppeteers in Chicago, and co-creator of the Puppet Wonder Wagon and The Beatrix Potter Holiday Tea Party. Grace’s puppets have appeared at Lookingglass, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Rough House, Steppenwolf, Teatro Vista, The Metropolitan Opera, La Mama, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and more. Grace previously managed learning programs at Marwen and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago where they worked to put art-world resources in the hands of Chicago youth. Grace holds a BA in Art from Yale University and an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from Goldsmiths University of London, and they are currently an MFA candidate in the Stage Design program at Northwestern University.

Selina Trepp is an artist researching economy and improvisation. Finding a balance between the intuitive and conceptual is a goal. “If in doubt be radical” is the best advice she ever received. She works across media, combining performance, installation, painting, and sculpture to create intricate setups that result in installations and animations. In addition to her studio-based work, Selina is active in the music scene playing the videolah creating projected animations in real-time as visual music. She performs with a varying cast of musician collaborators and as one half of Spectralina, her audiovisual collaboration with Dan Bitney.