Hannah Yohannes

Hannah Yohannes (She/Her) is a film director and screenwriter who is well known for her work on her critically-acclaimed and award-winning short film, Home Away, which has been featured on Issa Rae's Short Film Sunday Series & has been nominated as one of 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women selected to be published alongside the Honourable Jean Augustine. She is currently the senior protocol producer for the next season of Big Brother Canada and works in the community as a filmmaking educator.

Shehrezade Mian

Shehrezade Mian is an independent producer based in Toronto who has produced award-winning films, music videos for Juno nominated artists, and commercials for leading brands across the globe.

Prior to her move to Canada, Shehrezade was an active member of the entertainment industry in Pakistan, where she worked alongside industry veterans and contemporaries to revive Pakistan’s film industry.

Shehrezade now works as an independent producer and international production liaison between Canadian productions shooting in Pakistan, and vice-versa.

As an independent Producer, Shehrezade seeks to tell unconventional stories that bring light to under- represented communities, with an intrinsic focus on South Asian narratives.

In 2019, Shehrezade’s feature film was selected for Telefilm Canada’s Talent To Watch Program, alongside funding from the Toronto and Ontario Arts Councils.

Amen Jafri

Amen Jafri is a self-taught documentary filmmaker and producer, whose work has been shortlisted for the TVO Short Doc Contest and screened for TVO, CBC, the American Documentary Film Festival, Brooklyn Web Fest, The Pilot Light TV Festival and more. More recently she has mentored other emerging filmmakers through the DOC Institute and Arts Network Ottawa. In 2018, she directed the Wingd/Bell Media production, Creatorland and was named a fellow for the Hot Docs Doc Accelerator Lab, as well as an IAWTV Award Winner and a participant in WIFT's IDM Fund Futures Program. She has been awarded funding through the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Arts Council for her next upcoming film, She Said "I Do"...to Herself.

Maissa Houri, Moderator

Maissa Houri is the Digi60 Filmmakers’ Festival Director of Womxn’s Industry. She is an Arab-Canadian award-winning filmmaker and actress based out of Ottawa, Canada, who attended Montreal’s Vanier College Theatre and Film Program. Maissa recently released an award-winning web series that challenged the norms of society by telling the story of a sexually freed Muslim woman living with her gay roommate. Her second short film “Inara” has warranted her many directing awards. Maissa is passionate about telling stories from the perspective of being a first-generation Arab-Canadian and shedding light on the misrepresentations of Arabs and Muslims on TV and film.