Samiramis Kia

Samiramis Kia is a director, writer, and producer based in Toronto. Born in 1981, during the Iran-Iraq war, she was among the generation who experienced war, suppression and a deep despondency resulting from the failure of the 2009 Green Movement in Iran. The Green movement, which is popularly known as the Persian Awakening in the West, was one of the most major pro-democracy political movements in the history of Iran. It was after this movement that many Iranians fled the country to seek asylum outside of Iran, including Kia who immigrated to Canada in 2012. During this time, Kia found refuge in art and cinema as a source of self-expression.

Samiramis has participated in different photography and film venues around the world, including Iran, Turkey, China, and Canada.

A. S. M. Kobayashi

Alison S. M. Kobayashi is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist whose hybrid, interactive work mixes documentary and fiction through videos, performances, installations and illustrations. Her performance Say Something Bunny! received critical acclaim heralded as "The best new theater experience in town" by Vogue and was a NYTimes critics’ pick. Kobayashi has exhibited widely at internationally art museums and festivals. She is a Creative Capital Awardee, a Yaddo and MacDowell Colony fellow, and Special Projects Director at UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art.

Zhimin Hu

ZhiMin Hu is a Chinese Canadian independent filmmaker based in Toronto, known for her compelling narratives that inspire healing and transformation. An alumna of the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema at Concordia University and the Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC) program, as well as a member of the Alliance of Women Directors, ZhiMin has honed her craft in storytelling and visual artistry.

Passionate about exploring human nature, psychology, and societal issues, ZhiMin has written, produced, directed, and edited a feature documentary and eight short films across fiction, documentary, and experimental genres. With over a decade of experience as an editor for fiction, documentaries, and TV shows, she brings a deep understanding of narrative structure and pacing to her work.

Her films have received critical acclaim and have been featured at prestigious festivals, including those qualifying for the Canadian Screen Awards, BAFTA award, and the Academy Awards. In 2019, ZhiMin’s feature documentary Ketchup & Soya Sauce was nominated for Best Canadian Feature and Best Director at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival and was broadcast on CBC.

In 2024, her short film The Teacup won multiple awards, including the Golden Sheaf Award at 77th Yorkton Film Festival, The Best International Short Film Award at Rock the Short Film Festival at LA, and the Silver Remi Award at 57th WorldFest-Houston Film Festival. 

Minh Quan Hoang

Minh Quan Hoang is a new filmmaker based in Montreal. Born on the south shore, he has always had an interest in cinema and storytelling. Throughout his youth, he explored many creative outlets such as stand-up comedy, piano, and theatre. He has a Bachelor’s in software engineering and is currently teaching at a local high school. Perception, his first short film, was selected for the Fokus Film Festival. Perception is a movie about the difference between how one sees themself and how the world actually feels about them.

byol kimura-lemoine

kimura byol lemoine (키무라 별 르뫈 – 木村 ビヨル レムワンー) is a conceptual multimedia feminist artist who works on identities (diaspora, ethnicity, colorism, post-colonialism, immigration, gender), and expresses it with calligraphy, paintings, digital images, poems, videos and collaborations. 

kimura*lemoine’s work has been exhibited, screened, published and supported nationally and internationally.

Since 1988, ze received grants from Centre audiovisuel Bruxelles-Wallonie, CCA, ONF, PHI Foundation, Rogers-BSO.

Derek Kwan

Derek Kwan is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC. Naturally gravitating towards stories surrounding food and culture, he strives to bring narratives to screen through flavors audiences have yet to experience. Derek’s narrative directing debut “100 DAYS” was selected for the Telefilm ‘Not Short on Talent’ program and will be showcased at the upcoming Short Film Corner during the Festival de Cannes, May 2023.

Laurence Ly

Of Cambodian and Vietnamese origin, Laurence Ly holds a master’s degree in cinema and moving image from UQAM and a diploma in directing from L’inis. He has directed the web series LES LAURIERS (2022) and the short films CORRESPONDANCE (2022) and LE PETIT PANIER À ROULETTES (2024), which have been shown at local and international festivals. His next short-film project, with the support of the CAC and CALQ, is LA NUIT DU CANTONNIER, a fantastical tale of a Chinese road-mender in 1939. He works as a producer, director and screenwriter, and curates and programs films for Festival Accès Asie.

Dédé Chen

Based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Dédé Chen is an author and filmmaker interested in exploring the dynamics of filiation. She holds a degree in anthropology from Laval University and completed a master’s in international relations at the University of Beijing. Upon her return, she began developing a writing practice, blending poetics and politics, and focusing on themes such as sexual violence, the body as territory, and archival work. She co-edited Les Asiatitudes (2024), the first French-language anthology of authors descending from Asian diasporas in Quebec, and has published autofiction works in literary journals such as Le double de la mère in Moebius (2021), Femmage in Le Crachoir de Flaubert (2022), and Renasiance in Estuaire (2024). Her first short film, Papaya (2022), premiered at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, and was awarded the Prix du Coup de Coeur at the Festival Accès Asie, as well as an honorable mention at the Festival Filministes and the Vancouver Festival of Recorded Movement. Having grown up between Saguenay and Quebec City, she needed to reconnect with her roots in the city and amplify the voices of adopted people. In 2021, she co-founded Soft Gong, the first Francophone organization by and for adoptees from China.