Rakhee Morzaria
Comedian, Actor, Writer

Rakhee Morzaria is a multi-award-nominated South-Asian actor, writer, and comedian. She was the lead on the hit Hulu/CBC comedy, Run the Burbs and her filmmaking has been showcased at the Atlantic Film Festival, Imagine This Film festival in New York, Kevin Hart’s Eat My Shorts Competition. Her CBC digital series, Note to Self, was nominated for a Canadian Screen and Canadian Comedy Award. As seen on What We Do in the Shadows (FX), Private Eyes (CTV) and My Spy (Netflix), and animated series Summer Memories (Roku), Rakhee also performs stand-up and sketch and performed at the Toronto and Montreal Sketchfest, Comedy is Art Festival, the Second City Stage and as part of inaugural Bob Curry Fellowship program.

Meelad Moaphi
Filmmaker

Meelad Moaphi is an Iranian Canadian filmmaker and Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University. His debut feature, His Father’s Son, won the Audience Choice and Best Director prizes at the 2024 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and is now available on Apple TV+.

Eman Pathan
Producer

Eman Pathan produces work that focuses on diasporic narratives, with themes of identity, belonging and home. The Reelworld Producer Program alumni and DGC member produced Jersey Boy, a coming-of-age feature film about a Sikh boy struggling with his identity in the aftermath of 9/11.

Yung Chang
Filmmaker

Award-winning filmmaker Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze, Wuhan Wuhan) explores stories bridging East and West. He recently completed production of his short fiction The Highway (2025) and is developing his debut narrative fiction feature, Eggplant. Chang is a member of AMPAS, DGC and WGC.

Shasha Nakhai
Filmmaker

Shasha is a Toronto-based storyteller with over a decade of experience in scripted and unscripted. Her work has aired on the BBC, CBC, ZDF, and Arte; screened at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); been nominated for 16 Canadian Screen Awards; named TIFF’s Top 10; and shortlisted for an Oscar.

Alison Almeida
Producer

Alison Almeida is a South Asian producer based in Toronto.

Jialan Lin
Writer & Director

Jialan Lin is a Toronto-based Chinese writer-director whose work delves into the cultural and societal systems that reinforce inequality, intending to spark dialogue and foster healing. A graduate of the USC Film School (MFA) and a participant of the Whistler Film Festival Screenwriters lab, she is currently developing her debut feature, Caregiver.

Katharine King So
Filmmaker

Katharine King So’s work often explores being a gay half-Asian woman: whether she’s playing one onscreen (Revival, The Voyeurs), developing dark-comedy scripts (TIFF’s Series Accelerator, Inside Out’s Finance Forum), or walking her dog in a Melissa Etheridge t-shirt. She is repped by PLAY Mgmt. www.katharinekingso.com @katharinekingso

Dylan Pun
Director

Dylan is a Chinese film director whose style revolves around strong talent direction, meticulously crafted frames, and an edit-conscious approach. He is drawn to character-driven stories that call for a unique visual language. His short film Shrimp Fried Rice won Best Screenplay at the Fantasia International Film Festival.

Lee Nisar
Filmmaker, Writer, & Photographer

Lee Nisar is a Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker, writer, and photographer based out of Toronto, Canada. Lee’s work explores issues relating to intergenerational curses, queerness, and the absurd. When not working on their next film, Lee enjoys karaoke, trying out new recipes, and annoying their cat.

Lizzie Han
Filmmaker

Lizzie Han is a Korean-Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto. She is drawn to restrained studies of daily life that balance dry humour with quiet tragedy. Her work has screened at numerous international film festivals including NFFTY, TIFF Next Wave, and Phoenix Film Festival.

Yvette Sin
Filmmaker

Yvette Sin is a queer Canadian-Hong Kongese artist based in Toronto. From found objects, intrusive thoughts, inside jokes and gossip, she makes: collages, poems, mistakes and moving pictures. Mostly she spends her days at a bookstore in the west end, slingin’ books, driving around the city and scheming.

Andrew Phung
Actor, Host, and Comedian

Andrew Phung is an award-winning actor, host, and comedian, known for the comedy series Kim’s Convenience. He won five Canadian Screen Awards as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for that role. He’s currently the co-creator and star of the comedy series Run the Burbs on Hulu/CBC.

Amanda De Souza
Director/Producer

Amanda de Souza is a Canadian Director/Producer with a career spanning over 15 years in the entertainment industry including Advertising in Toronto, PR for Broadway theatre and design for W Magazine in NYC, and film marketing/distribution in LA. Her contributions as an Assistant to Directors, Producers and Showrunners in Canada includes series and feature films with Netflix, Disney, Lionsgate and Universal with extensive experience in every step of filmmaking from the writers’ room to post-production. She is currently a Producer for Apartment 3C Productions in Los Angeles, under founder and Director/Actress Jennifer Morrison.

Meelad Moaphi
Filmmaker

Meelad Moaphi is a Toronto-based filmmaker. Born in Iran, Meelad spent most of his childhood in Japan and has also worked in Spain. In 2024, he completed his directorial feature debut, entitled His Father’s Son. Meelad was Associate Producer on Antoine Bourges’ feature Concrete Valley, which screened at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2023 Berlinale. Meelad’s short film credits include Arrhythmia (2009), Republic of God (2010), A Scene (2018), and Worth (2019). He is also an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid-Laurier University’s Department of English and Film Studies.

Sami Khan
Filmmaker

Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller
Filmmaker

Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller is a mixed-race Palestinian filmmaker whose work explores fragmented identity, grief & post-traumatic growth through “oh no, should I laugh?” comedy. Fateema is a WIDC and CFC Directors’ Lab alumni and recently completed a fellowship for Middle Eastern writers at USC. She is a firm believer in resistance through laughter.

Priscilla Galvez
Filmmaker

Priscilla Galvez is a Toronto-based director, producer and co-founder of the production company Silent Tower. Her latest short film ‘A Fermenting Woman’ world premiered at REGARD Festival and was recently awarded Programmer’s Choice at Minikino Film Festival.

Oshini Wanigasekera
Director, Producer, & Animator

Oshini Wanigasekera is a Toronto based actor, animator, dancer, and filmmaker. She wrote and directed the award-winning film, What I Meant To Say, I Can’t Do This Anymore, and a solo stage show. Her television appearances include The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu), Titans (HBO), Workin‘ Moms (CBC), and Good Sam (CBS). She has animated for Disney and Netflix series, video games, short films and feature films.

Ella Saini
Director & Animator

Ella Saini (she/they) is a Filipino-Indian Canadian filmmaker based in Scarborough, ON. She captures the intricate connections between people and their environments, highlighting the often overlooked narratives within urban communities. Their current short unhome has been screened at F-O-R-M Festival of Recorded Movement and 2024 TIFF Next Wave.

Chen Sing Yap
Director & Editor

Chen Sing Yap (he/him) is a Singaporean-born GTA-based editor, director, and writer. His work often leans into stark juxtapositions and graphic matches to bring mental health issues to light. He is the director and editor of Feeling the Apocalypse, a climate anxiety documentary that has played over a hundred venues.

Weiye Su
Director, Producer, & Writer

Weiye Su is a Canadian-Chinese documentarian and photographic artist. Weiye’s dedication to storytelling and capturing personal narratives within cultural contexts shines through their films, including Jia (2020), A Passage Beyond Fortune (2022), offering nuanced insights into the ever-evolving values of our society.

Jenny 진희 Lee
Director & Writer

Jenny 진희 Lee is a Korean Canadian TV writer and filmmaker. She was most recently co-producer and writer on Murdock Mysteries (CBC). Jenny likes to create character-driven works that examine family, society, and mental well-being and madness – all from a perspective grounded in the experiences of women.

Natalie Murao
Director, Producer, & Writer

Natalie is a yonsei (fourth generation) Japanese Canadian filmmaker and educator based in “Vancouver”. She aims to expand the notion of Asian diasporic cinema by creating an in-betweenness of styles that embody the diaspora itself. Her films have played at Sundance, TIFF Next Wave, Palm Springs ShortFest and more. In tandem with filmmaking, she has facilitated educational programs for local institutes such as The Cinematheque and VIFF.