Mahtab Rezayi is an Iranian filmmaker, writer, and photographer born in May 1995. She graduated with a BA in Film Directing from Art University in Tehran, Iran. She has made several fiction and documentary films. Additionally, In her professional career as a filmmaker, she has participated as a screenwriter in several movies and won an award for the best commercial script in 2017. Mahtab Rezayi was a member of the screenwriting selection committee of the 16th Nahal International Film Festival and a jury member of the 5th National Technology and Industrial Film and Photography Festival. She was also the art manager and supervisor of the artistic and cinematic content production department at Puzzle Academy Art Institute.

Areas of focus: Documentary, Directing, Photography, Writing, Gender discrimination, Social taboos

Laura holds a BA in History from DePaul University and an MA in Media Studies from The University of Texas at Austin. Their master’s thesis explored American haunted house horror films and questioned how these tales obfuscated or shed light on systems of violence, death, and memory in the real world.

Current research is focused on horror fans and how they are constructed in American society. Broadly, they are interested in exploring how culture and identity are negotiated through people’s relationships to the horror film genre. At present, they spend much of their time reading old issues of Fangoria magazine.

In their free time, Laura is an avid fan of music, cat videos, medical history books, and a passionate supporter of physical media.

Dennis (Yifei) Sun is a Ph.D. student in Media Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests revolve around new media theory, new media authorship, film philosophy, handmade motion pictures, and the intriguing copyright issue surrounding AI-generated art. Titled "Rethinking Bergson and Deleuze's Theories of Movement - The Material Ontology of Analog and Digital Moving Images, and The Disciplines of Creation in Digital Artworks", his previous article appears in Screen Bodies: The Journal of Embodiment, Media Arts, and Technology (vol. 8, no. 1, 2023). In light of the historical legal precedents in handmade motion pictures, he is currently engaged in a project that delves into the complex copyright and authorship issues surrounding AI-generated images. With this endeavor, he also seeks to build an archive related to the recent advancements in AI technologies, explore the resurgence of the romantic authorship in a digital context, and investigate the purpose of copyright from the perspective of chance-oriented art.

Xian Wang, a Chinese woman raised in Northern China, is a filmmaker and rapper, and she loves learning cultures and languages from different parts of the world.

She studied film production as an undergraduate, and during that time, directed short films and produced hip-hop music. She is dedicated to exploring the complexities of Female Consciousness, East Asian society, and self-awareness.

Driven by her love for film, Xian also worked as a Captioner at various film screenings. This opportunity not only exposed her to a vast array of films but also honed her ability to understand the nuances of different cultures and languages.

Seeking to expand her creative horizons further, she decided to continue her MFA at UT Austin. She has a profound curiosity for various artistic mediums, and in the future, she intends to push boundaries and explore new forms of expression by experimenting with different subjects and amplifying diverse voices. She hopes that her work will inspire others to embrace their own unique stories and cultural diversity and contribute to a more harmonious and inclusive world.
 

Areas of focus: narrative film, sci-fi,  self-awareness, East Asian society, human rights, fantasy, psychological horror, feminism, Chinese myth stories

Raul Seca Jr. is a videographer, photographer, and musician. Born in Laredo, Texas, a small city on the border of Mexico just southwest of Austin, his spark for film was ignited early within him when he first began videotaping home movies with his family in 2004 at 11 years old, the same age he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Initially, life proved mostly difficult that year, but his childhood with this disease was made easier when he met his first camcorder. The joy and adventure he discovered while learning to shoot with his family and friends made a lasting impact, and from that point on, Raul knew he wanted to revolve his life around filmmaking. He finds great joy in piecing together ideas and exploring his creative side. Throughout his life, Raul has worked as a freelance photographer and videographer in his hometown, specializing in abstract, candid, street, documentary, and portrait styles of work. Additionally, he enjoys writing and composing music. Raul is the creator and producer of an electronic ambient music project called Diabetic Jesus, a multi-instrumental solo act that he performs live. He finds fulfillment in bringing ideas to life and expressing himself through various artistic mediums.

Raquel Mira is a Miami-based director. A graduate of Miami Dade College, Raquel directed seven short films during her time there, showcasing her love for storytelling and filmmaking. Her work has been recognized and screened at various film festivals around Miami, including the 2022 Miami Film Festival Cinemaslam, Sun Pass Film Festival, FilmGate Women Directors Festival, and Miami Dade College Student Film Festival. Raquel's work has also been featured in South Florida's PBS Filmmaker Season 5, and she recently won the FilmGate January 2023 Free-for-All Juror's Award. Through her films, Raquel explores human relationships with a unique perspective and a keen eye for detail, always striving to tell stories that captivate and resonate with audiences.

Camilo earned a bachelor's degree in Social Communication from Universidad EAFIT, in Medellín, Colombia. Since graduating, he has done a little bit of everything around the communications field, from newspaper articles, PR, and social media, to websites, content strategies, graphic design, and audiovisual productions. Among these work experiences, Camilo has led digital marketing campaigns for indie films, produced educational videos for corporate orientations, become—very briefly—a scientific communicator, and served as communications manager of his city’s film commission. He has collaborated in several film, advertising, and music video projects, primarily as an editor and motion graphics artist.

As a student of the MFA in Film and Media Production, Camilo aspires to find his place in filmmaking through stories that explore identity, disconnection, self-discovery, and the interplay between media and society.

Areas of focus: Fiction, editing, screenwriting, identity, self-discovery, coming of age, mass media, psychology, sci-fi, post-modernism.