Yazmeen Kanji is an award winning Muslim Indo-Caribbean filmmaker and cultural consultant, Hot Docs Accelerator Fellow, the Advocacy and Outreach Lead at BIPOC TV & Film and the founder of Films With A Cause - a consulting startup for cultural specificity and authentic representation of historically marginalized communities in film and TV productions.

Her first documentary, From Syria To Hope (2019), was awarded Best Short Doc at the 2019 Toronto Short Film Festival. Yazmeen directed With Love From Munera (2020), which premiered at the 2020 Inside Out Film Festival, and is now streaming on the digital TIFF Bell Lightbox site. She was also a cohort member of Inspirit’s 2022 Narrative Change Lab alongside other Muslim creatives, strategizing authentic representation methods for portrayals of Muslim communities.

Executive Director, Banff World Media Festival

As Executive Director of the Banff World Media Festival and Publisher of Playback, Jenn Kuzmyk oversees all aspects of the renowned international event and Canada’s premier national media industry publication. Together with an amazing team, Jenn originated and leads two of Canada’s largest inclusion and diversity programs serving the media sector: The Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices Initiative and the BANFF Spark Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media.

Previously as Director of International Distribution at Proper Television, Jenn led program sales in key territories in North America and Europe, headed up the company’s OTT strategy and worked with independent producers, financing projects for the international market.

As VP, Development at Cream Productions, Jenn created, developed and co executive produced television series for top channels worldwide, including Emmy nominated series Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan, and hit international TV format Know-It-All, among many other titles.

Jenn currently sits on the Women in Film and Television Toronto Foundation (WIFT-T) Board of Directors as Vice Chair, on the Future of Film Showcase Advisory Board and has served as adjunct professor at Toronto’s York University, designing and teaching a 4th year course on the business of film, television and digital media.

Kimberly Christmas (she/her) is the Director for the Library and Learning Commons - Welland Campus, with Niagara College and a former Chief Operating Officer for the Future of Film Festival. She is passionate about social justice and supporting organizations who make critical social change.

Kimberly holds Master’s Degrees in English Literature and Library and Information Science. She is also Prosci® Change Management Certified, and has years of experience supporting and leading organizational learning and development initiatives.

Founder, Sisterhood Media

Rodney Diverlus [they/them] is Haitian-Canadian artivist, producer, and organizational change professional. 

Rodney is a co-founder and a Director for Wildseed Centre for Art & Activism, an artivist-run multidisciplinary centre for social and community change. 

Rodney is co-owner and Producer with Above the Palace, a media production company that works in Film, TV, and multidisciplinary live performance. They are premiering "aftercare" in 2023, and is in development of Come by Seldom (Feature), and here/after (Digital Series).

They are a multi-hyphenate artist and artivist who has worked extensively in theatre, dance, and film. They have worked as a choreographer, dancer, and actor throughout North America. Canada’s most preeminent institutions, including Stratford Festival, Canadian Opera Company, Art Gallery of Ontario, MOCA, Toronto Dance Theatre, Tapestry Opera, Canadian Stage, Luminato Festival, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, to name a few. 

They are author and co-editor of national bestseller Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada, one of the Hill Times’ Best Books of 2020. Their writing has appeared in national and regional publications including Toronto Star, CBC, Globe & Mail, Guardian Australia, THIS magazine, Huffington Post Canada, Now Magazine, Canadian Theatre Review, Dance Current, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. They are a contributor to numerous anthologies including Artistic Citizenship: Artistry, Social Responsibility, and Ethical Praxis. 

Paige Murray has worked at the CBC for over twelve years and is currently Executive in Charge of Development, Drama on the Scripted Content team. In this role, Paige oversees the development of one-hour drama series and actively looks for creators and stories that reflect the spectrum of the Canadian experience to entertain and enlighten CBC audiences.

Previously, she was Executive in Charge of Production, YA Digital Originals, overseeing production and development of short and mid-length series for CBC Gem such as Series Mania Best Short Series winner and SXSW Episodic Jury winner Something Undone, CSA nominated Fakes, CSA Winner Detention Adventure, CSA nominated Decoys and For Heaven’s Sake. Prior to this role she worked with the scripted content team as the Development Manager for Comedy and Drama and was the Canadian Reflections Programmer.

Additionally, Paige currently sits on the board of Regent Park Film Festival and the advisory board of the Future of Film Showcase.

Samantha Summers (she/her) is the Manager of Individual Giving for the Toronto International Film Festival and the Chair of Breakthroughs Film Festival. She is passionate about the power of art to inspire meaningful change in the world, and the role of artists in bringing light to injustice. Samantha holds a Master of Museum Studies, a Master of Information, a Master of Arts, and a Bachelor of Arts.