SAMANTHA SHADA | COME HOME WITH ME

Samantha Shada has worked for two decades across the entertainment industry with positions at the William Morris Agency, the United Talent Agency, Universal Pictures, Overbrook Entertainment, and Sony Pictures Studios. Her narrative short films premiered at LA Shorts and broadcast worldwide on ShortsTV. Shada is preparing to direct her debut feature narrative Come Home With Me, which participated in the 2025 Stowe Producers’ Lab, Cinephilia Productions Film & TV Development Workroom, 2026 Cinephilia Production Incubator, Joan Scheckel Filmmaking Labs, Sundance Co//abs, For Impact Productions’ Inaugural Producer’s Cohort, and Allison Anders’ Autobiographical Screenwriting course. The project has secured fiscal sponsorship with Denver Film. Sam received the Arab America Foundation’s 40 Under 40 for 2025. She is an honors graduate from Emerson College and holds membership in Women In Media, Women in Film and Television Colorado, The Colorado Film and Video Association, and the Alliance of Women Directors.

About COME HOME WITH ME:
In the dramatic, narrative feature COME HOME WITH ME, an Arab American girl falls into an obsessive relationship with her high school crush when he deploys to Iraq following 9/11. COME HOME WITH ME explores fantasy addiction in a first romantic relationship. The story is based on the filmmaker’s own experiences growing up as a Lebanese-American in the wake of September 11th. “I want every person who watches this film to find the strength to drop obsession and the courage to live fully in their own skin and embrace who they are, not who others think they should be.”

ELLA VANCE | THE GIRL OF 100 ROOMS

Ella Vance is an Australian-American filmmaker, director, and writer based in San Francisco, specializing in evocative storytelling that explores inner worlds through self-discovery. Her portfolio spans 12 short films utilizing digital video, 16mm, Super8, and audiovisual installations. A BFA graduate from Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Vance received grants in 2019 and 2022 for her films Golden Afternoon and The Ever Hours. The Ever Hours won awards at 3 festivals in 2022, placing as a finalist in 13 additional festivals across the U.S. and Europe. She is currently in development on her first feature film, The Girl of 100 Rooms, and working at The New York Times as Director of Production on the Games Team.

About THE GIRL OF 100 ROOMS:
When a rising journalist returns to her North Dakota hometown to investigate a missing teen girl, she's forced to navigate a dreamhouse of suppressed memories where reality blurs with trauma, and the only way to find the missing girl is to finally find herself. The Girl of 100 Rooms provides an honest take on the reality of trauma survival, but also a hopeful revelation. Percy doesn't just survive; she integrates. Every protective mechanism, every fractured self, every "room" of her psyche served a purpose. The film asks: What if we could thank our trauma responses instead of being ashamed of them? What if healing isn't about forgetting, but about gathering all our “selves”,  past and present, and saying, "You're all welcome here"? This is a story about the radical act of remembering: how confronting our most painful experiences is the only path to genuine freedom and wholeness. Everyone watching this film has a door they don’t open. That’s why this film works, not because of the twist, but because of what the twist reveals about our own lives. 

NICOLE DE MENESES | LAST BITE

Nicole de Meneses is an award-winning writer and director based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her films have screened at festivals around the world and are available on multiple streaming platforms. She is the founder of Dark Rainbow Films, an independent production company dedicated to creating bold genre films that center LGBTQ+ characters as the heroes and villains of their own stories. Nicole also serves as Executive Director of the Blood & Popcorn Film Festival, a micro-horror festival celebrating Bay Area filmmakers while showcasing international talent through year-round independent horror screenings. Her debut feature, Dead in Love, a paranormal romantic comedy, was distributed by Ariztical Entertainment and is streaming on Tubi and Prime Video. Nicole holds an MFA in Screenwriting from Stephens College. She is currently developing Last Bite, a sapphic vampire thriller set in San Francisco that explores love, trauma, and survival through a queer gothic horror lens.

About LAST BITE:
After escaping the cruel vampire who controlled her for centuries, Alba falls for Kali, a struggling singer in San Francisco. But when her relentless maker tracks her down, Alba must risk the love she's finally found to destroy the monster who refuses to let her go.
Through vampirism, LAST BITE explores the terrifying experience of being consumed by another person’s control, transforming emotional captivity into a literal struggle for survival, agency, and self-definition. At its core, Last Bite is about reclaiming agency and confronting the emotional aftermath of abuse. While the film embraces gothic horror and sensuality, it approaches these themes with care, focusing on the lingering psychological impact of abusive relationships and the possibility of reclaiming power, identity, and freedom.

NOOR ALKHADRA | THE OTHER FACE OF LOVE

Noor Alkhadra is an award-winning Saudi Arabian actress, writer, and filmmaker recognized as one of the pioneers of Saudi cinema. She was named Rising Star at the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival and has starred in four feature films. Noor is best known for HWJN, the fantasy film adaptation of Saudi Arabia’s bestselling novel, famously banned in 2011 before becoming a box-office success. Before acting, Noor worked in the video game and technology industries. She earned a BFA in Video Game Design from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and later completed an MSc in Technology Entrepreneurship at UCL while living and working in London. Noor wrote her debut sci-fi short film, funded by the Red Sea Film Foundation, Doha Film Institute, and His Excellency Turki Alalshikh. The project marks the first Saudi film funded by DFI, and she will direct it in September 2026.

About THE OTHER FACE OF LOVE:
In ancient Arabia under Roman occupation, a young woman born with a mystical golden heart is betrayed by the man she loves. Imprisoned and stripped of her soul, she strikes a pact with an alchemist to avenge her family, and must choose between vengeance and reclaiming her humanity. The Other Face of Love is about a woman who inherits a power she did not ask for. A man arrives to take it from her and stays to love her instead. “It is a spiritual film in our language, in our desert, in a tradition my culture has been holding for centuries. This story is ours. I want to give it back.”

JUANPEDRO DAVID SALAZAR and FRANCISCO SALAZAR | THE THIRD GUY

Juanpedro David Salazar and Francisco Salazar, brothers, co-directors, and co-writers, are currently developing their third feature film "The Third Guy," which was selected to participate in the Nostos Writing Retreat and the Cinephilia Workroom and Producers Lab. Their second film “Colibri” (2024) screened at the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival, Houston Latino Film Festival, and Bogota Film Festival and was nominated for two Colombian Academy Awards. Their first feature, "Nowhere" (2020) went to over 20 Film Festivals, including Outfest Fusion and Cinequest, and was nominated for two Colombian Academy Awards. It also won Best First Film, Best in Show, and Best Feature at several festivals, including the Roving Eye Film Festival and Woods Hole Film Festival. The film was acquired by TLA Releasing in the U.S. and U.K. and Optimale in France. In 2019, they were selected for the first annual Latinx List from The Black List.

About THE THIRD CUY:
On the eve of his permanent return to his home country, an immigrant’s decision to leave will be tested by a friendship he strikes up with cam boy, their adventures together over the course of one night in New York, and their navigation of toxic relationships together.

“The Third Guy” was inspired by real-life events that allowed for self-discovery in the most unexpected of places - camming websites. “Through conversations with different cam boys, I was able to confront prejudices that allowed me to come to terms with my own sexuality. They were the first to help me find a place of belonging and acceptance. This story explores the kindness we can give to one another when we get rid of our prejudices and are willing to be open and honest with others. It is also a story of taking ownership of our lives even when the world constantly presents you with darkness everywhere.” - Francisco Salazar

“The Third Guy” is an LGBT - Latine story that shines a spotlight on millennials struggling with their identities and their place in the chaos of the 21st-century world. At its center is an immigrant who is willing to sacrifice his sense of freedom and autonomy to find comfort in any kind of connection he can make. The story ultimately challenges our need for codependency and toxic dynamics as it explores loneliness, a place of belonging, and finding connection in the most unexpected places.” - Juanpedro David Salazar

AROM CHOI | MOON

Arom Choi is a South Korean independent filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Arom received an MFA in Film Directing from CalArts and has taught narrative filmmaking at CalArts and Colorado College. She is currently participating in the 2026 Cinephilia Development Lab, where she is developing her feature script, ‘MOON,’ with the support of esteemed mentors and speakers. In 2024, she was one of three awardees for the CJ Entertainment & Toronto International Film Festival K-Story Fund for her feature script, ‘Sunset Burns With No Answer.’ Her short films have screened at international festivals, including St. Louis International Film Festival, the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Film Festival and the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Whether in short or feature-length projects, Arom Choi’s work explores the fragility of life, the intricacies of human connection, and our relationship with the environment.

About MOON:
The film follows Moon, a climate activist who runs a local composting facility in a quiet Colorado town. While she works to reduce her community’s carbon emissions, her partner’s suicide—driven by climate despair—shatters her belief in the mission.

In this film, we find two people in love navigating the paradox of living in a broken system designed to disrupt the balance of nature while simultaneously longing for a future. One succumbs to despair, while the other must decide where she stands between isolation and community, life and death. The film follows the work of grassroots composting facilities, exploring the power of human connection alongside the beauty of the composting cycle. With proper management of nitrogen-rich “greens” and carbon-rich “browns,” decay transforms into regenerative soil. This process curiously mirrors human experience: just as microbial activity breaks down food waste to create life-giving nutrients, we humans process challenges to find new paths forward. Through the life of an ordinary woman enduring profound loss and pain, the film celebrates the human resilience that emerges in small, everyday rituals of care.

NAJLA BAORUNI | BYE BYE BABY

Najla Barouni is a Franco-Tunisian actress, screenwriter, director, and producer, trained at the Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique de Paris, at La Fabrik Film School, and in the Meisner technique and improvisation at the Jamel Comedy Club. She has delivered powerful performances in Stone (JCC Carthage 2025), Que Notre Joie Demeure, Roqya, and Bandar/Monkey in a Cage by Anurag Kashyap (world premiere at TIFF 2025). As a filmmaker, she has directed award-winning shorts — Dhakira, Moksha, Putain t'es belle, and The Conversation, winner of the Grand Prix France Télévisions and selected at FIPADOC and is currently developing her first feature-length documentary with France Télévisions, following that win. She also completed the CPH:DOX Lab in 2026, and is developing the short film Galaland with the French Institute of Tunisia.

About BYE BYE BABY:
Sarah crosses the Mediterranean illegally to get back her daughter, kidnapped by her husband, an all-powerful businessman who watches her every move. On board: Luna, a ward of the state who escaped prison with a stolen diamond, and Boubacar, whose dictator father has just been killed, whose mother has been kidnapped, hunted because of his name.

I started writing Bye Bye Baby because I was tired of seeing the same films about migration, always from the African continent to the European one, always the same faces, with that same miserabilism projected onto Africans in general. I am myself the product of migration, but from a time when it didn't require a dangerous, clandestine journey, in shame. Until September 16, 1986, my father could come to France with nothing more than a valid passport. Then the borders closed. Sarah, Luna, and Boubacar were all born in France. That matters to me: we don't see enough of these French characters with a dual culture, carrying two worlds within them without ever fully belonging to either one. Sarah is inspired by my own life, a consuming, all-controlling love that, despite everything it destroyed in me, remains engraved in my skin.

This film also matters because it shows Tunisia in all its richness, its culture, its knowledge, its sense of hospitality, as much as in its complexity: the situation of sub-Saharan Africans, gay people who are a full, integral part of society, women's place within religion, and the weight of masculinism. With my first feature, I wanted to speak about identity, belonging, and dual culture, my way of pushing back against clichés.

DANIELLE FULLER | FARRIN

Danielle is a filmmaker based between the vibrant city of Kingston, Jamaica, and New York. She received her BFA at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in Film and TV Production. As a creative, Danielle earned the esteemed Fulbright Research-Arts Grant in 2022, enabling her to undertake a historical-nonfiction screenwriting project in Jamaica, solidifying her dedication to storytelling and cultural exploration. Danielle's versatile career spans the film and marketing industries, encompassing projects with New York University's Public Affairs Office, animation and design work for US National Science Foundation-funded research and video initiatives, and contributions to notable programming broadcast by Television Jamaica, the country's most-viewed local station. She also worked as a Social Video Producer at WXXI, Rochester’s PBS station, where she produced, edited, and created engaging field-based content for digital platforms. In 2022, Danielle wrote and directed her debut short film, Standout, which garnered recognition from local and national (U.S.-based) festivals, including the National Black Film Festival, Rochester International Film Festival, and Charlotte Black Film Festival. As an artist, Danielle seeks to explore diverse mediums and subjects. Through her work, she aims to contribute to the movement of filmmakers who use their stories to bridge gaps in the representation of POC stories.

About FARRIN:
When a New York-based anxious artist, Maya, receives a grant to visit her mother’s home country, Jamaica, to complete a graphic novel, she meets Sheree, a young woman saving to get off the island and reunite with her mother in New York. Together, the two form a fraught connection, intertwining their personal histories and challenging their views on family and belonging.