Jill Louise Busby is a writer, trainer, and filmmaker who fearlessly dissects and challenges the status quo. She has spent years in the nonprofit sector specializing in Equity and Inclusion. She has spoken at academic institutions, businesses, and detention centers on the topics of Identity and Power and delivered hundreds of workshops to nonprofit organizations all over the country. With a keen eye for unveiling the layers of personal and societal hierarchies, Jill’s creative journey is driven by her belief in dismantling limiting narratives. Through her thought-provoking work, she playfully pushes audiences beyond their comfort zones, encouraging them to explore genuine freedom within the realm of truth.

Sam Flancher is a film programmer who has worked in Chicago for over a decade. He currently works programming international feature films for the Chicago International Film Festival after spending five years at the head of their short film program. He has served on film juries both nationally and internationally, and was named one of Newcity's Film 50 in both 2019 and 2022.

Justice Jamal Jones, is a multidisciplinary artist. Justice is a filmmaker, actor, and writer based in New York City. They have worked in production, creative direction, styling and as talent at Disney on Broadway, Vogue Italia, Paper Magazine, and Maybelline New York.

Lauren Jevnikar is an LA-based director & editor interested in intimacy, vulnerability, and the body. Their work has screened internationally in over 7 countries; their last short “Half-Light” won Best Directing at NFFTY in 2023 and went on to screen at HollyShorts ’23 & additional festivals. As an editor, they’ve cut work for clients such as: Snoop Dogg, the NFL & Super Bowl, Coachella, Lowes, and more, and had projects screen in multiple Oscar-qualifiers. They were a 2021 Top 10 Finalist for the Horizon Award for Emerging Female Filmmakers and worked as a show editor on the 2022 NAACP Image Award-winning docu-series “Daring Simone” starring Simone Biles. They hold a BFA in Film from Syracuse University and have additionally studied at FAMU International in Prague CZ.

Kourtney Jackson is a Toronto-based filmmaker and lens-based artist. Her artistic practice employs hybridized and experimental forms of storytelling that permeate interiorities of Black queer womanhood. In lieu of “representation” as a means for legibility, her work endeavours toward a repatriation of the self through somatic, spiritual, and ecological sensibilities. Her award-winning films have screened locally and internationally at festivals including TIFF Next Wave (Toronto), BlackStar Film Festival (Philadelphia), Sundance Film Festival, Ignite x Adobe (Utah), and the Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal (Montréal).

Greg is the Artistic Director for Heartland Film and its Academy Award®-qualifying Indy Shorts and Heartland Film Festival events in Indianapolis and is also Senior Associate Programmer with the Tribeca Festival shorts team. Greg regularly serves as a festival jury member, industry panelist, and grant reader including recent engagements with Stage 32, IDA, and the NEA. Greg was recently honored with the Spirit of Windrider Award at the 2024 Windrider Summit at Sundance.