James Heron

James Heron has been the Executive Director of Toronto’s Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre since 2000. He also founded and co-programs for the Toronto Japanese Film Festival and writes film reviews for Nikkei Voice and Bento Box Magazine. He is the president of the Chado Urasenke Tea Society of Toronto, holds a 2 dan in kendo and lived in Japan for 11 years. His wife Masayo is from Kagoshima and is still trying to forgive him for Canadian winters.

Nicole Mendes

Nicole Mendes has spent the past six years working in Commissioned and Scripted Programming at the CBC. As Executive in Charge of Production for the Drama Department, she oversees projects in both production and development for dramatic one-hour series, limited series, miniseries, mvies of the week and specials. She currently works on the beloved program Murdoch’s Mysteries and most recently worked on the hit series The Book of Negroes.

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.

Lea Marin

A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Production Lab, Lea Marin joined the National Film Board of Canada as a producer in 2006. Her recent film credits include My Prairie House which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014 and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award, and The Portrait, directed by Oscar™ nominated filmmaker Hubert Davis, which premiered on the BBC and won Golden Sheaf awards for Best Director and Best Documentary (Arts & Culture) in 2012.

Elisha Lim

Elisha Lim is a queer and transgender artist whose goal is to effect social change. Elisha works through printed matter and video. Their work strives to investigate social issues around race, gender, and sexuality by popularizing creative alternatives (for example, the gender-neutral pronoun “they”). They have exhibited art and videos internationally, have lectured on race representation and gender neutral pronouns on panels, artis talks, and United Nations conferences, and directed Montréal’s first Racialized Pride Week in 2012.

Grace Lynn Kung

A Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Leading Comedic Actress, Grace Lynn Kung has studied in England in Canada. She is a graduate of the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama (Chancellor’s Trophy recipient), York University (two-time awardee – Award for Acting) and holds two Certificates of Distinction for Speech and Drama from Trinity College London in the United Kingdom.

Karla Bobadilla

Karla Bobadilla is an entertainment and media lawyer, practicing primarily in film, television and new media rights acquisition, production and distribution. Previously, she worked at the Canadian Media Production Association providing policy, regulatory, government relations, strategic planning, advocacy, and lobby work. Karla is also the former Chair of the Board of Directors of Reel Asian.

Immanuel Lanzaderas

Immanuel Lanzaderas is a bilingual criminal lawyer for Legal Aid Ontario. He is a founding member of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers, and served on their board of directors for five years. Immanuel enjoys tennis, and Fifth Generation Chinese Cinema.

Victoria Shen

Victoria Shen is a human rights and labour lawyer. She works at the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) as Director, National Industrial Relations and Counsel. She is a former board member of FACL and President of CCNCTO. She was a board member of Reel Asian from 2008-2014.

Albert Shin

Albert Shin graduated from York University with a BFA in Fim and Video Production in 2006 and directed his debut feature, Point Traverse, in 2010. He returned to the director’s chair for his second feature, In Her Place (2014), which premiered at TIFF and went on to receive seven Canadian Screen Award nominations.

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.

Lisa Valencia-Svensson

Lisa Valencia-Svensson is an award-winning documentary film producer based in Toronto. Her first feature-length documentary, Herman’s House, won an Emmy for Outstanding Arts & Cultural Programming. Her second feature Migrat Dreams was a Top Ten Audience Favourite at Hot Docs. Her passion is for film projects which explore issues of inequality and social justice.