Edmund Stenson’s work as director spans both documentary and fiction and focuses on social issues, loners and nomads. He most recently directed BLINK, a National Geographic feature about the Lemay-Pelletier family, who dropped everything and traveled the world after learning three of their four children were losing their vision. Before that, he was an associate editor on BAFTA- and Oscar®-winner Navalny (2022), a documentary-thriller about the Russian dissident’s poisoning. In 2018, he directed the award-winning Finding Fukue, the viral success that has amassed over 14.5 million views online; and in 2021, The Martyr, a gothic fairytale about medieval super villain Gilles de Rais, which premiered at Flickers Rhode Island, and won Best Short Doc at Atlanta Shortsfest and FilmQuest. Stenson is also somewhat obsessed with the Chilean filmmaker/magician Raúl Ruiz,  as well as another kind of magician: Leicester City talisman Jamie Vardy. 

Mitra Shahidi is an Iranian-American story artist, director and screenwriter who was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. Shahidi’s passion for art and storytelling began at a young age and led her to pursue a career in animation in the United States. Growing up, she was exposed to a rich cultural heritage which has greatly influenced her artistic style and subject matter. After graduating from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, she worked as an art director and story artist in games, film and advertising until she joined Pixar Animation Studios as a story artist in 2017. Since joining Pixar, she has worked on several films, including the Academy Award-nominated “Luca” and the upcoming “Elio.” Shahidi also wrote and directed the Tribeca “Best Animated Short” award winning Starling, as well as the award winning live action narrative short Good Egg.

Shahidi currently lives in the Bay Area, California with her family.

Nancy Schwartzman is an Emmy winning and Peabody nominated documentary filmmaker and a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences. She is the Director and Executive Producer of the 5-part original documentary series Sasha Reid and the Midnight Order for Freeform/Hulu and Disney+ with XTR Studios. The show features a diverse cast of young women pooling their talents to fight violence against women and bring justice to victims. She is the winner of the Women’s Image Award for Best Direction of a Series. Her recent Netflix original feature, Victim/Suspect, won an Emmy award and was nominated for 3, including for Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Investigative Documentary and Outstanding Research. Victim/Suspect is the winner of the RFK Journalism prize, nominated for the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival in 2023 and the F:ACT Award at CPH: Dox.

Bomani J. Story was born in Riverside, California and raised in Redlands, California. Growing up, Bomani always had a love of reading literature and watching films. He even spent time writing his own short stories as a child. Upon graduation of high school, Bomani cut his teeth on filmmaking when he started making short films with his fellow collaborators. After two years at San Bernardino Valley College, Bomani was accepted into the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts to study film production. Since his graduation from USC in 2010, he has been honing his skills as a writer and director.  In 2018, Bomani wrote a feature film, Rock Steady Row, that went to the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury and Audience award.  In 2023, his directorial debut, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster world premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and released in theatres later that year.

Natalie Sandy is a television and film producer based out of Los Angeles, whose credits include the "Lessons In Chemistry" for Apple TV+ which was nominated for ten Emmys, the BAFTA-nominated series "Little America" for Apple TV+ and the limited series about the rise and fall of WeWork, "WeCrashed", starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway.

She is currently in an exclusive overall deal with AppleTV+ with Piece of Work Entertainment, the production company founded by Lee Eisenberg ("The Office", "Good Boys").

Jeff Lee Petry is a Canadian-born documentary producer, director, and
cinematographer. He is co-founder of SALAZAR Film, a Vancouver-based production company that focuses on documentaries with an emphasis on telling unique stories of iindividuals whose lives create change within their communities.

Over the past 15 years of documentary film making, Salazar has traveled across 5 continents, earned a Grammy and Juno nomination, been honoured in the British parliament, and has had multiple films included in the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Library. Salazar’s work
has also been screened in over 35 international film festivals and can be seen on Viceland, CBS, Netflix, and Redbull TV.

Josephine Anderson is a documentary filmmaker who works across linear and immersive modes to address themes like time, irreverence, yearning, and female experience. Josephine’s work has been shown at festivals worldwide including Tribeca, IDFA, Hot Docs and RIDM, and has been exhibited by The New Yorker Documentary, CBC, Canada Council for the Arts, and the National Film Board of Canada.
 

Josephine is a member of the Directors Guild of Canada, and the Documentary Organization of Canada and an alumna of Berlinale Talent Campus and the Canadian Film Centre (NFB/CFC Creative Doc Lab). She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of British Columbia, and is a graduate of Capilano University’s Documentary program, where she was honoured with the One to Watch alumni award.

Glenn is a documentary storyteller who creates human-driven films, from the arts to the sciences. His background in literature is a key element in his work, which features strong characters and compelling narrative structures. Glenn has directed nearly two dozen full-length documentaries that have been screened at film festivals, broadcast on public and cable television stations, and now are featured on a multitude of streaming platforms.

In addition to long form documentaries, Glenn creates short films about journeys of recovery for the mental health website Recovery Diaries. Working across the world, Glenn has directed films in China, Portugal, Kenya, Rwanda, Northern Ireland, Poland, Bosnia and the Republic of Georgia. Much of his work is about social justice, the arts, and mental health. Glenn is drawn to stories of beauty and struggle, recovery and hope.

Gavin is a Québécois Canadian filmmaker on a mission to dissolve otherness using the universal language of cinema.

​

Writer/director credits include fiction, "Followers" (Fantasia, Reelworld) and "Case Claus'd" (Montreal International Black Film Festival, CBC Short Film Faceoff), and documentary, "Good Luck Have Fun" (NSI, Just for Laughs).

​

Producer credits include hundreds of episodes of branded series from development to distribution for CBC, Shopify, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Microsoft’s HALO and Fisher-Price.

Fu is a Taiwanese filmmaker. She brings unique handmade design and combines stopmotion, traditional animation and motion graphics in her projects.

She draws-- for opening up communications, finding connections with people, and revealing her thoughts on subjects that matter to her.

She creates award-winning animated shorts both on her personal and collaborative projects.

​

To share the knowledge and experience of indie filmmaking,

Fu interviews directors about their personal projects, tips and production processes on Nice Shorts.

​

She thrives on creating a believable world and invites the audience into the mood with performance, music, and lighting.