S. Torriano Berry is an award-winning independent filmmaker who has created, and executive produced the anthology series Black Independent Showcase, and Black Visions/Silver Screen: Howard University Student Film Showcase for WHUT-TV 32, in Washington, D.C. His two, half-hour made-for-television movies The Light and When It’s Your Turn were produced through the Minority Advisory Board of WPVI-TV 6, in Philadelphia, PA. Berry is creator of the science fiction anthology series The Black Beyond. A 30-minute version of his feature-length horror film EMBALMER was a finalist in Showtime Network Inc.’s 1998 Black Filmmaker’s Short Film Showcase. He is co-creator and director of Noh Matta Wat, the first dramatic television series of Belize, and director of “Livin’ Mi Life,” the first episodic sit-com of Belize, Central America. He co-produced, directed, and edited Episode #3 of the Iowa Public Television series “Telling Our Own Story - Black History Segment,” in 2022. As a writer, Berry co-authored the film resource books, "The 50 Most Influential Black Films," published by Citadel Press in 2001, and "Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema," Scarecrow Press, 2007 & 2015 ("A to Z of African American Cinema" - Paperback) He has also self-published two fiction novels: “T.E.A.R.S.” based on his feature length screenplay addressing the roots of racism in America, and "The Honeyman’s Son," a coming-of-age adventure set in the 1930s, Post-Depression America. Berry is Professor Emeritus at Howard University’s Department of Media, Journalism, and Film. He received his BA in Art/Photography from Arizona State University and earned his MFA in Motion Picture Production from the University of California, Los Angeles. He lives in Coralville, Iowa.

ORJI OBIORAH. I’m a Film Historian, Writer, Animator, Producer & Director of intellectual fiction and documentary films. I also write and produce commercial adverts, artistic music videos, and cinematic wedding videos. I intend to always use my Afro Nigerian-Canadian expressionism art-films to entertain and inform. My main objective is to produce socially relevant and thought-provoking films which will highlight perilous societal malaise, inspire a visceral reaction, and inspire intellectual debate. I’m greatly inspired by the film-making style of Spike Lee, Mel Gibson, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Tyler Perry, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, and Alfonso Cuaron. *Lately, I have been inspired by the film-making style of Gina Prince-Bythewood – the director of ‘’The Woman King’’ (2022). My film composition style (look & feel) is inspired by the artworks of baroque/renaissance painters like Michelangelo Caravaggio and Rembrandt. My film story writing style is greatly inspired by the Igbo-Nigerian story-telling style of the Maestro of African Literature – the inestimable sage named Chinua Achebe. I earned a Bachelor’s degree (Hons) in Film & Media Studies (2012), from York University, Toronto, Canada. I also worked in the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) in various capacities before I migrated to Canada.

Buddy Terry is an American filmmaker and cinematographer, born in Portland and raised in rural Saint Helens Oregon, who draws inspiration from growing up in a small-town. As a producer, Buddy’s creative work aims to challenge ideological preconceptions, and advance craft convention. As a trained anthropologist Buddy holds the philosophy that one’s understanding of the world is directly influenced by their environment, and can be subsequently narrowed as a result. His work ranges from commercial multimedia production to long form ethnography and documentary films, most recently with Reveal, the Center for Investigative Reporting. Buddy is recent graduate with a masters of Documentary Film at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Linus Unah is a Nigerian producer, journalist and emerging documentary filmmaker. He previously worked as an independent journalist for six years and produced multimedia stories on wildlife conservation, development, global health, and conflict for Mongabay, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, National Public Radio, Devex, The Christian Science Monitor, and several others. His predilection for documentary film grew out of his role at San Francisco-based WildAid, an international environmental charity, where he assisted in producing environmental TV series and shortform videos on the illegal wildlife trade and local conservation projects. In May 2023, he completed his first short documentary, “Split Jury,” for his master’s thesis in the documentary program at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.