Samuel Jamier

Samuel Jamier is the co-director of the New York Asian Film Festival, conceived and produced by Subway Cinema. Until 2013, he was senior film programmer and curator at Japan Society, responsible for the selection and organization of all films, series, and festivals

Danish Vahidy

Danish Vahidy is currently the Director of Marketing at Mongrel Media, one of Canada’s leading film distribution companies and home to some of the very best films made in Canada and specializing in art house, foreign, and independent feature films as well as documentaries. Danish is a veteran of the film industry with over 20 years of experience in Canadian theatrical distribution and has worked on the campaigns for numerous high-profile films including Water, Exit Through The Giftshop, and Boyhood.

Thom Ernst

Thom Ernst is a Toronto-based film critic and writer and an active member of the Toronto Film Critic’s Association. Currently he is the regular Friday night film critic on CTV National News. He is also well known to CBC Radio listeners as a frequent contributor to CBC Radio’s Fresh Air with Mary Ito, as well as fill-in critic on CBC Radio Syndication. Thom has served on the FIPRESCI international film jury for the TIFF Discovery program and as a jury member for the Italian International Film Festival.

Rupal Shah

Rupal Shah is the producer at Nightswimming, a company focused on commissioning and developing new Canadian theatre work. Most recently, she produced the world premiere and Canadian tour of Carmen Aguirre’s Blue Box. Upcoming is the world premeire of Anita Majumdar’s The Fish Eyes Trilogy, playing this season in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, and Banff.

Sidney Chiu

A producer that focuses on films with international appeal, Sidney Chiu‘s credits include Coconut Hero, Three Days in Havana, and Bang Bang Baby, which recently won the TIFF 2014 award for Best Canadian First Feature. Chiu also worked on Edko Film’s Mandarin romantic comedy Finding Mr. Right, starring Tang Wei with director Xue Xiaolu, and producers Mathew Tang and Shan Tam, which has grossed over US$80-million in China, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Brad Horvath

Brad Horvath is a producer, sales executive, and content rights strategist. He has managed international film acquisitions and North American sales for Toronto-based film distributor Ouat Media and was the Noth American Sales and Acquisitions Executive for London-based Cineflix Rights. Recently he joined the sales team at BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Stephen Gong

Stephen Gong is the Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). Stephen has been associated with CAAM since its founding in 1980, and has served as Executive Director since 2006. He has ben a lecturer in the Asian American Studies program at UC Berkeley, where he developed and taught a course on the history of Asian American media.

Michael Fukushima

Michael Fukushima is studio head and executive producer of the National Film Board of Canada’s world-renowned English Animation Studio. After freelancing following college, Fukushima joined the Animation Studio in 1990 as a filmmaker, then became a studio producer, and is now head of the fabled studio, with over 200 films (and some nice awards and nominations) under his belt.

Jennifer Chen

Jennifer Chen is the Vice President of Programming, managing acquired content and original productions for multiple Canadian television networks: CHCH in Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara region, Rewind – the GenX movie channel, Silver Screen Classics and the new Halla Boll – the only network dedicated to children’s programming in the Hindi language. She was formerly the General Manager of Ouat Media, managing one of the largest distribution companies specializing in world sales of short form content including Oscar-winning short films in live action and animation. She currently serves on the Board of the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival and loves it!