Kiyoko McCrae is Director of Documentary Programming and Filmmaker Labs at the New Orleans Film Society. She strives to connect Southern filmmakers to resources and relationships, often inaccessible in the region through the Emerging Voices Directors Lab and Southern Producers Lab. She is an award-winning film and theater director. Her films have screened at AFI Docs, Calgary, Hot Springs, Flickers Rhode Island, IndieMemphis, Cucalorus, Milwaukee and has been supported by CAAM, Firelight Media, Reel South, World Channel, Southern Documentary Fund. Her theater work has been supported by MAP Fund, NEFA, NPN, Alternate ROOTS, NOJHF, CAC New Orleans. She is a 2017-2018 Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, a 2020 John O’Neal Cultural Arts Fellow and former Managing Director of Junebug Productions. She received her BFA in Theatre Arts from NYU’s Tisch School. She is happy to call New Orleans home with her husband Jason and their two children, Manami and Koji.

Lela Meadow-Conner is a Creative Producer and Founder of mama.film - a village at the crossroads of art & advocacy where storytellers, changemakers and nurturers come together to champion humanity through a maternal gaze. She has 20 years of experience in independent cinema exhibition, most recently as Executive Director of Film Festival Alliance (2017-2022.) Through its curation arm, mama.film operates as a nomadic experience, partnering with regional and national organizations to program films that center women, identity and the human experience. In 2020, mama.film launched rePRO Film, a monthly short film and podcast advocating for reproductive justice. In 2021 & 2022 mama.film served as a Satellite Screen for the Sundance Film Festival in Kansas. She currently serves as Co-Producer on the documentary feature 'Chasing Chasing Amy’, Producer on the narrative short and feature ‘'Run Amok', with several other projects in development. Lela is an alumni of The Industry Academy, a program of Film at Lincoln Center/Locarno Film Festival and recently participated in the Brand Storytelling Certificate Program and Sundance Co//ab Film Producing Program. She’s served on multiple film juries including AFI and the NAACP Image Awards, is a frequent panelist for national industry organizations.

Iman Zawahry is one of the first hijabi American-Muslim filmmakers in the nation. She has worked on numerous films that have played at over 100 venues worldwide. She’s an Emmy award winner, Princess Grace Award recipient, a Lincoln Center Artist Academy Fellow, and Sundance Momentum Fellow. She is also the co-creator of the first American Muslim film grant with Islamic Scholarship Fund where she currently serves as Director of Film Programs. Iman works to amplify the underrepresented female voice and frequently consults and speaks across the nation on Muslims in Film. Her debut film, Americanish, is currently touring the festival circuit and has won twenty five awards, including best director and best film. She is currently faculty of film production at the University of Florida.

Aizzah Fatima is an award-winning filmmaker, actor, playwright, comedian, and ex-Google engineer. She has been featured on NPR, The Guardian, Woman’s Hour (BBC), The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time Out, The New York Times, and The Huffington Post. Her feature film Americanish directed by Iman Zawahry world premiered at CAAMFest in 2021 and has won 25 awards at festivals. She has previously produced with James Franco’s company Rabbit Bandini Productions. Her award winning short films can be seen on Alaska Airlines and Ruku. Her TV pilot Muslim Girls DTF: Discuss Their Faith (Gotham Week 2022) world premiered at SeriesFest 2022, and won the Best Comedy Writer award and the Caz Mathews Fund award that highlights series that tackle social justice issues. The script for the pilot also won the 2020 Roddenberry Foundation Impact Award, 2020 Yes, And...Laughter Lab, and an ISF Film award. She is a 2021-2022 Orchard Project Episodic Lab fellow as well as a 2022 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Fiction from The New York Foundation for the Arts. Her solo play Dirty Paki Lingerie has been produced in NYC, Toronto, Italy, Turkmenistan, Pakistan (four city tour U.S. State Dept.), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, United Kingdom (15 city tour), and at universities across the U.S. The Wall Street Journal says the play “Breaks down stereotypes of Muslim women”. She was nominated for an Outstanding Solo Performance award (NYIT 2014), a Broadway World award for Best Play, and a Manchester Theatre Award for Best Production (2016). She is the recipient of The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art grant with Brooklyn Children’s Theatre where she was part of a team that created the first ever children’s musicals with Muslim protagonists. She wrote the book for the musical The 10 Year Test about how Eid became a holiday in NYC public schools. TV acting credits: High Maintenance (HBO), The Code (CBS), Mr. Robot (USA Network), The Good Wife (CBS). She received her MFA in Writing for Film & TV from Emerson College, and is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.