SEDINA FIATI

  • Sedina Fiati is a multi-hyphenate performer, producer, creator, director and activist for stage and screen. Proudly Black and queer, Sedina is deeply invested in artistic work that explores the intersection between art and activism, either in form or structure or ideally both. Sedina holds a BFA in Music Theatre from the University of Windsor and is also a graduate of Etobicoke School of the Arts.

EMILY NIXON

  • Emily Nixon (she/they) is a producer, actor, and filmmaker from Vancouver. She works in film/tv and theatre. She has produced short films, commercials, and PSAs. As a writer/director, her most recent short film, Not My Today, screened at DOC NYC and Hot Docs, among others. In 2023, it was acquired by CBC. She has performed in projects like See, Nightmare Alley, Shazam!, and Murdoch Mysteries. She graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Theatre Performance-Acting program with honours in 2014. She splits her time between Toronto and Berlin.

MEGHAN SWABY

  • Meghan is a first generation Jamaican - Canadian actor and writer based in Toronto. She has

    performed throughout Canada, US, Mexico and the UK. Some of her favorite projects include:

    Prodigal (Howland Company/ Crow's Theatre), Controlled Damage (Neptune Theatre/ b

    current), Calpurnia (Nightwood Theatre/Sulong Theatre), Venus’ Daughter (Obsidian Theatre),

    In This World (Roseneath Theatre), Family Story (Birdtown and Swanville/ Summerworks) and

    All Our Happy Days Are Stupid (Harbourfront Theatre/ The Kitchen - NYC). Film/TV: Condor

    (AT&T), Ghostwriter (Sinking Ship/Apple TV+) and Odd Squad Mobile Unit (Sinking Ship/PBS).

    She has voiced roles for animated series such as; Kiya and the Kimoja Heroes (eOne, Disney

    Jr), Max & Ruby (Treehouse) and ​​Pinkalicious & The Peterrific (PBS Kids).

    Last year, Meghan’s play Venus’ Daughter was published by Scirocco drama. Meghan also co-

    hosts and produces, Beneath The Ceiba Tree, a podcast about Caribbean folklore from a

    contemporary diasporic lens.

HANNAH YOHANNES

  • Hannah Yohannes is a distinguished Eritrean director and screenwriter, renowned for her

    exceptional contributions to the world of cinema. Her critically-acclaimed and award-winning

    short film, "Home Away," earned widespread recognition and was featured on Issa Rae’s Short

    Film Sunday Series.

    Recently, she directed "The Crown," a captivating CFC film in collaboration with the

    extraordinary composer, Kaia Kater. Hannah is currently immersed in her upcoming project,

    "Little Dreams," partnering with the phenomenal writer, Chattrisse Dolabaille, and developing

    her new series, "Mutuals."

KEIRON LYN

  • keiron lyn is a trailblazing multi instrumentalist with decades of experience. As a member of the groundbreaking queer core punk band, Tribe 8, she is a recipient of Austin’s OUTsider Legacy Award. keiron is transferring her decades of experience in the music world to the film/tv industry.

TABBY JOHNSON

  • Taborah “Tabby” Johnson began her career in the Toronto production of Hair as a teenager. She was subsequently a backing vocalist for Rick James from 1979 to 1982, including on James' most famous single, "Super Freak". She subsequently returned to Toronto, where she sang as a jazz performer and as a backing vocalist for her sister Molly's band Infidels, and acted in occasional film and television roles, including appearances on Cagney and Lacey, Airwaves, E.N.G., and Clark's Homicide: Life on the Street, and regular roles in the children's series Polka Dot Door, The Big Comfy Couch as Auntie Macassar from 1992 to 1996, and Noddy, as well as the film A Holiday Romance. She appeared as the FLOTUS' Chief of Staff, assistant to the First Lady, in her brother Clark's feature film The Sentinel,[2] and the 1984 HBO TV movie The Guardian with Lou Gossett and Martin Sheen.

APOLONIA VELASQUEZ

  • Recipient of the Dance Ontario Innovation, Manifesto Innovation & Originality, KM Hunter, and Soul Pepper Dance Awards, Apolonia Velasquez is a director, choreographer, actor, and educator. Her dance company GADFLY's work includes Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning ‘Klorofyl'. Apolonia has been commissioned to create work for Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Ryerson Theatre School, Dusk Dances, The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Citadel + Compagnie and the School of Dance to name a few. Her work has been presented in Festivals such as Luminato, Nuit Blanche, Festival DansEncore, 100Lux, Ontario Dance Weekend, and Manifesto. Apolonia is also the founder of TUDS Festival of Urban Dance Culture and the Aybrid Dance Intensive.

FRANCESCA COVIELLO

  • Francesca is a 2021 graduate of Centennial College’s Broadcasting - Film, Television, Digital Media & Radio program where she wrote and produced 2 narrative short films and documentaries. She is interested in pursuing writing and producing in the industry.

CHATTRISSE DOLABAILLE

  • Chattrisse Dolabaille is a writer and performer who is passionate about telling narratives which, along with their protagonists, have been "othered" for far too long. She started in the music world and then broadened her scope to include acting, keeping a pen firmly in her hand (she may one day write as many screenplays as she has original songs). Two of her first short films, which she also acted in and co-produced, have screened in numerous international film festivals. Her first feature placed her as a Top Ten Semifinalist for the 2019 Canadian Film Festival's screenwriting competition; it is a coming-of-age story set in Chattrisse's hometown of Toronto. Predictably, she wrote the entire soundtrack.