Christian Anderson

Christian Anderson is an award-winning Afro-Latin writer & director based in Toronto, Canada. She is a recent graduate of York University’s film production program. Christian’s work, such as short films; “Lagoon” and “Teen Dream”, is centred around amplifying the voices of diasporic Black and Brown women, through her unique and immersive storytelling.

A Regent Park Film Festival alumn (circa 2016), Christian’s work has also been screened in Winnipeg’s 2018 & 2019 Afro Prairie Film Festival, as well as in other incredible local screenings such as Canema’s; Black History Month screening in 2018, and The Humming Collectives’ 2019 Short Film Screening.

Prajj Rajawat

Prajj is an emerging filmmaker and artist; immigrating to Canada from India at a young age, he’s been at the crossroads between two very different cultures. His work often focuses on the dynamics that occur between these intersections and the people caught between the lines.

Blake Mawson

Blake Mawson is a queer Canadian screenwriter and director and graduate of the CFC Director’s Lab. In 2016, he wrote and directed his first short film, PYOTR495, a film set amidst the brutal anti-gay attacks taking place in Russia since the passing of Putin’s LGBTQ propaganda law which criminalized the normalization of homosexuality. The film toured worldwide, screening everywhere from Sitges and Fantasia to Frameline and Outfest, and was awarded The National Screen Institute of Canada’s A&E Filmmaker Award in 2018 as well as a 2019 Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Performance by the film’s star Alex Ozerov. Blake is currently developing his sci-fi horror series, GURNERS, which is co-written and co-created by Scott Treleaven (BUGCRUSH) and executive produced by Blue Ant Studios in partnership with Alan Cumming’s Club Cumming Productions.

Niya Abdullahi

Niya Abdullahi is a Black-Muslim-Ethiopian student, film maker, tech-enthusiast and online activist. She is the founder of Habasooda, a platform dedicated to sharing the richness of the Muslim experience through a variety of storytelling avenues including short films. The objective of the platform is to make the public aware that Islam and Muslims are not monolithic, each person has their own unique experiences.

Mirusha Yogarajah

Mirusha directed a film produced by the National Film Board of Canada called Parked: Seeking Refuge in Cars, on youth in Scarborough who find refuge in their cars. She produced a film called Snowbird through the Inside Out Film Mentorship Lab, which premiered at the Inside Out Film Festival. She recently received a grant from the F-O-R-M Commission to direct a film on trauma carried in the body conveyed through a bharatanatyam performance. She was also selected for the Emerging 20 program through Reelworld Film Festival, which she completed last week. Her work aims to showcase the multifaceted experiences of being a person on the margins and the delicate and intimate experiences they host alongside survival.

Shubhi Sahni

Shubhi Sahni is a writer and filmmaker based in Toronto. She is interested in telling character-driven stories that come from a place of personal truth. Her first short film, Click Here To Play, premiered at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. In 2020, Shubhi was a participant in Regent Park Film Festival and BIPOC TV & Film’s TV Writing Workshop led by Ins Choi, creator and showrunner of Kim’s Convenience. She is also an alum of Reel Asian’s Unsung Voices program as well as Workman Arts’ If You Ask Me program. Her most recent short film, Burn, premiered at the Rendezvous With Madness Festival.