Sharjil Rasool
Comedian, Actor and Writer

Sharjil Rasool is a comedian, actor and writer. He is an alumni of The Second City Toronto Mainstage where he wrote and performed in three critically acclaimed revues, and was featured in JFL42’s New Faces. You can catch him as Nikhil in Run the Burbs (CBC) and the voice of Ajit in Bakugan (Cartoon Network). Other television credits include What We Do in the Shadows (FX), Baroness von Sketch Show (CBC/IFC) and Abroad (Omni). He’d really love it if you followed him on Twitter (@sharjilrasool) and Instagram (@sharjilr).

Liem Vu
Host

Liem Vu (he/him) is a journalist with over 10 years of multi-platform experience. He can be seen weekdays on Global News Morning as a co-host and weather specialist.

Aram Siu Wai Collier
Artistic Director, Reel Asian Film Festival

Aram (he/him) is a filmmaker, educator, and film festival programmer. He is currently the Artistic Director at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.

Maya Bastian
Filmmaker

Maya Bastian (she/they) is an award winning filmmaker and artist. Her work has been supported by Netflix, HBO, UN IOM, CBC and the Canadian Film Centre. Her most recent film Tigress participated at CANNES COURT METRAGE 2021 and premiered at Festival De Nouveau Cinema.

She is in development on multiple features with BLACKOUT MEDIA and KARMA FILMS and is currently co-writing and directing a paranormal mystery series set in 1970’s Southeast Asia with REFLECTOR ENTERTAINMENT. She is an alumni of TIFF Series Accelerator 2023 with her comedy series How to be Brown. Her work frequently explores the trauma related to displacement and migration.

Jay Carolyn Wu
Writer-Director, Development Exec

Jay Carolyn Wu (they/them) is a queer/non-binary Hong Kong-Canadian writer/director and development exec. Their most recent short Toe the Line screened at Inside Out Toronto 2022, Vancouver Asian Film Festival 2021, and was nominated for the Golden Sheaf for Scripted Short, Yorkton Film Festival 2022.

As a development exec, they also developed scripted originals across both comedy and drama for Crave and CTV at Bell Media from 2021 to 2023. They now lead the development of series and features at LaRue Entertainment.

Giran Findlay
Director, Writer

Giran Findlay (he/him) is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker, who writes and directs narrative dramas that use elements of both documentary and surrealism. He is interested in telling stories that raise questions about human nature and using unconventional techniques to achieve this.

Lina Li
Producer

Lina Li (she/her) is a storyteller who cares deeply for authentic human connections and the exploration of vulnerability through heart-to-heart dialogues. She aims to bridge her audience closer or simply help one feel less alienated through the resonance of human emotions and experiences.

Her short film Have You Eaten? navigates the generational, cultural and language barriers between a mother and a daughter in an immigrant family. It was commissioned and produced by the National Film Board of Canada, and licensed and featured on The New Yorker. Li has been working as a freelance producer on short films and ad campaigns for international brands such as KPMG and DECIEM The Ordinary.

Hannah Polinski
Co-Director, Producer

Hannah Polinski (she/her) is a writer and filmmaker currently based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Using the lens of Asian identity, her work explores familial memory, shifting landscapes, and feminine sexuality. Her first film, perennials, premiered at Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival (2022).

From poetry to film criticism, her writing has appeared in publications such as the White Wall Review and Ricepaper Magazine. As a playwright and theatre director, her original works have been performed on stage in France, and most recently at the Montreal Fringe Festival (2023).

Dédé Chen
Co-Director, Editor, Cinematographer

Born in Nanchang, China, Dédé Chen (she/her) now lives in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal where she creates works about the performance of filiation. As a filmmaker, writer and anthropologist, she is interested in autoethnography.

Kay Chan
Director, Producer, Writer, Lead Animator

Kay Chan (They/He/She) is a Two-Spirit/nonbinary Tkaronto-based artist who was raised across Turtle Island/Canada. With their mixed Métis-Chinese heritage, Kay transforms their many experiences, passions, and identities into vision while weaving together traditional and digital art mediums they have accessible.

Gordon Tomoya de Groot
Director

Gordon Tomoya De Groot (he/him) is a Japanese-Canadian filmmaker born in Osaka and based in Toronto. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA in Cinema Studies.

With his short films, he is interested in exploring the underlying loneliness in people’s lives and how that manifests in their interactions with each other. Having grown up in Japan, his work often touches on the intricacies of Japanese society and the moral dilemmas within it that push and pull at individuals.

Miru Yogarajah
Director, Writer

Miru Yogarajah(they/them) is a documentary filmmaker, writer, community organizer, and artist. Miru aims to showcase the multifaceted experiences of being a person on the margins and the delicate and intimate experiences they host alongside survival.

Their film works have been produced by National Film Board of Canada and they received the 2022 Hot Docs Cross Current Fund to develop their feature-length documentary Im/migrant Buyers’ Club. They have written contributions to The Local and West End Phoenix, among others.

Kristina Wong
Producer

Kristina Wong (she/her) is a film producer who strives to tells stories that reimagine the Asian-Canadian experience. Her work includes the short films Distant Cousins (Dir. Winnie Jong) and Gem & Shaz (Dir. Chloé Hung).

Currently, she is producing the Talent to Watch feature 100 SUNSETS and adapting Ann Hui’s celebrated novel Chop Suey Nation into a hybrid feature film. Most notably, Kristina was named one of Playback Magazine’s “10 Filmmakers to Watch”.

Nedda Sarshar
Filmmaker

Nedda Sarshar (she/her) is an Iranian-Canadian writer and filmmaker. Her first short film, Rachel and Raha, premiered at the Canadian Film Festival, and won Best Short Film at the Toronto LGBT Film Festival and Best LGBT Short Film at the Toronto Short Film Festival. Her second short, Unibrow, was a recipient of Reel Asian’s “So You Think You Can Pitch” Contest.

Her writing has been featured in Best Canadian Poetry, Huffington Post Canada, and the Rumpus. She enjoys writing about diasporas and star-crossed lovers.