Outpacing passive notions of “exploration,” Kanaka Maoli writer and director Kanani Koster confronts her subjects head-on. Committed to unveiling the raw realities of so-called “ordinary” life, she crafts stories that are as authentic as they are hilarious. She is a ‘24 American Film Institute Directing alum, 2024 ‘Ohina Lab Fellow and ‘23 Punky Aloha Scholar for Kanaka 'Ōiwi and Pasifika Creatives. She has spoken on numerous panels on race, diversity and representation in film as well as serving as a judge for the 2022 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Kanani is the 2020 Oregon Made Film Grant winner for the docu-short, Any Oregon Sunday, and a 2020 Portland Arts Museum Re:Imagined Artist recipient. Her short film No Spectators Allowed, has won and been nominated for awards such as the Best of the PNW Short Film at the 2022 Bend Film Festival and included in the The Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian’s Fall 2023 showcase. Her AFI thesis film, FCBK, was funded by Sloan and Visionary Justice Story Lab playing at AFI FEST, SeriesFest and Hawai’i International Film Festival. In 2024, Kanani’s current feature in development SHOOTS was a finalist for Tribeca AT&T’s Untold Story grant.

Manuel Del Valle, writer, director and producer from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, based in Los Angeles. An alumnus of ArtCenter College of Design, California College of the Arts, and a participant in HBO’s Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today, Del Valle has developed a storytelling style that resonates with the essence of cautionary folktales, weaving narratives around themes of decay, transformation, connection, and disconnection. Del Valle's films have been winners in HBO's Urbanworld Film Festival, La Habana International Film Festival, Shorts Mexico, and have been selected for the Morelia International Film Festival, Hollyshorts among others. Currently, Del Valle is channeling his creativity into several projects. Namely "The Unexpected Symptoms of a Peculiar Heart,", as well as "Sandclouds: The Feather Thief," a stop-motion short film.

day (they/them) is a filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. Their work often explores themes of identity, and is informed by their lived experience of being Black and queer.

Loren Waters is an award-winning Cherokee and Kiowa filmmaker whose creative work spans Directing, Producing, and Casting. Named to the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, Loren is also the Executive Director of the Lindy Waters III Foundation, where she is dedicated to serving Native youth and uplifting Indigenous communities. Her short documentary film, Tiger, received the Short Film Special Jury Award for Directing at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.