Robert Colom is a Cuban film producer, writer, and graphic designer born in Miami, whose work illuminates stories of Florida and the Latin American diaspora. He is a member of the Caribbean creative collective Third Horizon, and has been a programmer for their flagship initiative, Third Horizon Film Festival, since 2021. His films have played worldwide, including most notably at Sundance Film Festival, Miami Film Festival, and Berlinale, and have been acquired by HBO, PBS, and Criterion Channel.

Nellie Killian is one of today’s most inspired film curators. In addition to cofounding the Migrating Forms Film Festival, she’s worked with an array of A-List festivals, institutions, and venues, including BAM, Anthology Film Archives, Metrograph, the Museum of the Moving Image, the Quad Cinema, and the Criterion Channel.

C. Mason Wells is a screenwriter, producer, actor, and film distributor based in New York. He most recently co-wrote and co-produced Between the Temples, which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and was distributed theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics. He is currently the Director of Distribution (US) for MUBI.

Brian A. Loschiavo is a producer, director, screenwriter and co-founder of Riverside Entertainment, the Nashville and Los Angeles-based production company specializing in branded content and original film and television. He’s best known for Bluebird (2019), Manodrome (2023), Midland: The Sonic Ranch (2021), and Making Modern with Brooke and Brice (2021). He oversees all original development and production for Riverside and resides in Nashville with his wife and two sons.

Keith Thomas is Head of Development for Marcus Entertainment. Thomas has created memorable television series, branded content, and short films as a producer, director, and director of photography for over 25 years. His television credits include The Craftsman, Snapped, Say Yes to the Dress, My Strange Addiction, and Fatal Attraction, among many others. Prior to joining Marcus Entertainment, Thomas was a launch executive at Magnolia Network, where he became a key player in one of the most successful rollouts of a linear channel in this century.

Betsy Pickle is a freelance film critic and journalist. She was the film critic at the Knoxville News Sentinel from 1985 to 2008. A Knoxville native, she graduated from the University of Tennessee with a B.S. in communications. In 1992, Betsy co-founded the Southeastern Film Critics Association, a group that has grown to more than 40 members in nine states. She served as SEFCA’s president 2001-2004. She is a past member of the advisory council of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission and has served as a judge at the Nashville Film Festival, the Asheville Film Festival and the late Valleyfest Film Festival.

With 20 years of experience in entertainment publicity, Kristin Shrader is currently an independent awards consultant working alongside the public relations teams at Warner Bros. Discovery, FOX Entertainment, and Netflix. Prior to launching her own firm, she oversaw communications for series and brand initiatives at the #1 entertainment cable network, USA. She previously held positions at Bravo, Oxygen Media, and Fuse TV where she executed unscripted series campaigns and corporate PR initiatives. Shrader began her publicity career at the original entertainment PR firm, Rogers & Cowan, training under Co-Chairman, Paul Bloch, where she worked with the biggest stars in Hollywood.

Taylor Shung is a producer born and raised in New York City. She began her career in production working with filmmakers and artists such as Kogonada, Kahlil Joseph, and The Daniels. Her most recent film credits include Celine Song’s Oscar Nominated film Past Lives and Chloe Zhao’s Oscar Winning Nomadland. As a Producer she has helped bring to the screen films by emerging filmmakers such Zia Anger (My First Film), Hannah Peterson (The Graduates), Olivia West Lloyd (Somewhere Quiet) and the filmmaking duo Kentucker Audley & Albert Birney (Strawberry Mansion). In 2019, Taylor had her Broadway debut as a Video Producer for Ivo Van Hove’s revival of West Side Story. Taylor is a 2019 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow.

Kelly Williams is a creative producer and co-founder, with Jonathan Duffy, of Ten Acre Films. His credits include six features that have premiered at Sundance, including Light from Light, Sorry to Bother You (Independent Spirit Award winner), The Long Dumb Road, and Pit Stop (Independent Spirit Award nominee). Other films include: Mark, Mary & Some Other People (Tribeca 2021), No Future (Tribeca 2021), and I Used To Go Here (SXSW 2020) His latest production, What Happens Later, stars Meg Ryan and David Duchovny and opens in cinemas this November.

Emily Best is the CEO & Founder of Seed&Spark, a place where creators, audiences and organizations work together to tell stories that celebrate diverse voices and foster vibrant conversation. Seed&Spark started with a group of independent creators after the challenges and lessons of Best producing Emily’s first feature film, Like the Water. The Seed&Spark team has developed a best-in- industry crowdfunding platform that retains the storytelling focus and key features that contributed to the success of Like the Water.

Scott Macaulay is a New York-based producer and the Editor-in-Chief of Filmmaker magazine, the leading American magazine devoted to independent film. As a producer, along with his partner Robin O’Hara and his production company Forensic Films, Macaulay has produced or executive-produced many award-winning features. They include Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas, Harmony Korine’s Gummo and julien donkey-boy, Alice Wu’s Saving Face, Tom Noonan’s What Happened Was and The Wife, Jesse Peretz’s The Chateau, Bryan Barber’s Idlewild, John Leguizamo’s Undefeated, and James Ponsoldt’s Off the Black. In 1998 Macaulay and O’Hara were the recipients of an Independent Spirit Award for their producing work in independent film.

Eric Dawson is Manager of the Knox County Public Library’s Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection. Previously, he served as head of the Library’s A/V archive, TAMIS. He is a writer and archival filmmaker whose films include Electric Appalachia and Suttree.

Eleni Palis is an Assistant Professor of English and Cinema Studies at the University of Tennessee. She is the author of the book Classical Projections: The Practice and Politics of Film Quotation (Oxford University Press, 2022).

Amanda Thornton works at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, but her passion has always been movies. She previously managed film festivals nationwide for Regal and has volunteered at Nashville and Knoxville Film Festivals.

Chad Cunningham is an accomplished writer and director based in Knoxville, TN. His films have been showcased at festivals worldwide, and his work has been featured on platforms such as CMT, Director’s Notes, BooooooomTV, Omeleto, and Film Shortage. Chad’s acclaimed short film Catacombs won the inaugural Elev8or Pitch Competition at FILM FEST KNOX.

Amy Leigh Hubbard has worked in tv, film and digital media since 2012. Notable work includes co-producing If Dreams were Lightning: a Rural Healthcare Documentary, a film for ITVS by Ramin Bahrani, Light from Light, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019 and director/producer on several holiday themed digital pieces with HGTV.

Garry Williams has written screenplays for MGM, UA, Paramount, FoxTV, and the BBC. He has worked with directors including Stephen Gyllenhaal, as well as producer Sydney Pollack, and has a co-story credit on Larger than Life, , and a co-screenplay credit on SO B. IT.