Ariel Baska is a multi-award-winning, multiply Disabled queer horror and documentary filmmaker who believes in advocacy and accessibility for marginalized communities. Ariel is festival director of Access:Horror, a festival and industry summit celebrating the history, future and impact of disability and horror. They wrote and directed the horror short, Our First Priority, about medical gaslighting, which won the BAFTA-qualifying Advocacy Award from Superfest Disability Film Festival. As a producer, Ariel works in documentary, with numerous projects on the festival circuit, including Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters and Tish about the social realist photographer, Tish Murtha. They were a speaker at SXSW in 2022 and 2023, and is a fellow of Docs in Progress, the Portland Art Museum, and the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab. Ariel is a podcaster, non-profit owner, and internationally-published writer who curates creative spaces for disabled filmmakers. Their work can be seen in many places, but their creative multiverse is most visible through Ride the Omnibus, Ariel’s podcast and non-profit parked at the intersection of pop culture and social justice. Regardless of what story Ariel is telling or what work they’re doing, they care passionately about the margins.

Lela Meadow-Conner is the founder of mamafilm, co-Founder of rePROFilm, an impact curator
and an award-winning creative producer. She has held leadership roles at many film festivals,
and served as the Executive Director of Film Festival Alliance (2017-2022.) Her current
producing projects include Sav Rodgers’ Chasing Chasing Amy (Tribeca, BFI,2023) and Nitzan
Mager’s Academy Awards-qualifying short & soon to be feature Run Amok. She has several
projects in development including The Spice Poet with LunaMax Films and Priyanka Chopra’s
Purple Pebble Pictures; and the Green Tide Rising podcast, an audio & video documentary
series following the seismic shift in abortion rights in Latin America.
She’s a frequent panelist for organizations including The Gotham, SXSW and Ghetto Film
School, and has been quoted as a trade expert in publications including the New York Times,
Filmmaker Magazine, IndieWire and Box Office Pro.
Lela serves on the board of Los Angeles’ iconic Vidiots Foundation, as President of the
inaugural board of the Art House Convergence, and is a member of the Documentary Producers
Alliance and Brown Girls Doc Mafia. Most importantly, she is a mom to two daughters, Edie and
Margo.

Kiah Amara (They/She) is a New York-based Producer, Production Accessibility Coordinator, and Founder of IndieVISIBLE Entertainment. With over 5 years of experience, Kiah is a leader in promoting accessibility and inclusivity in entertainment. Alongside her work with respected entities like RespectAbility and ReelAbilities, she's a passionate educator, having served as a Teaching Artist at Actionplay. Kiah is the PAC on Best Foot Forward (AppleTV+) which was featured in The New York Times and awarded a 2022 Ruderman Seal of Authenticity. Other work includes the Netflix x RespectAbility Children's Content Lab, The Greatest ad (Apple x Somesuch), Rosie's Rules (PBS Kids), CBS and WarnerBros. Discovery Talent Initiatives, and Accessibility Lead for the Far Out product launch at the Steve Jobs Theatre. A graduate in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a focus on Disability/Neurodiversity Education, Kiah is a dynamic advocate for representation, recently sharing her insights as a queer disabled creative at the BRIC Summit.

In 2019, Amanda Kramer was named one of Indiewire's "Directors Who Will Define the Next Decade," alongside Chloe Zhao, Greta Gerwig, and Ari Aster. Her feature film PARIS WINDOW won the jury prize for Creative Vision at the DTLA Film Festival. Her feature film LADYWORLD (2019) was selected for the Frontierés Buyers Showcase at the Marche du Film at Cannes. And also showed at Fantastic Fest, BFI, Denver International Film Festival, SF Indie Fest, TIFF Next Wave, and others. Her film PLEASE BABY PLEASE (starring Andrea Riseborough, Harry Melling, Karl Glusman, and Demi Moore) opened the 2022 International Film Festival at Rotterdam, alongside the premiere of her feature GIVE ME PITY! (starring Sophie Von Haselberg). Her current video essay, SO UNREAL, is currently on the festival circuit after premiering at Fantastic Fest in 2023. In a world filled with ever-evolving cinematic expressions, Kramer remains a beacon of originality, set to leave an indelible mark on the film industry for years to come.

Benjamin Shearn is a film editor, producer, and writer. His work has played at SXSW, Tribeca, Berlinale, BFI London, CPH:DOX, Fantastic Fest, Fantasia, TIFF: Next Wave, Edinburgh, Outfest, MIFF, Beyond Fest, Sitges, ComicCon San Diego and the Frontieres Showcase at Cannes. In 2013, he produced, edited and directed the feature-length music documentary/contemporary dance film, SILK, which screened at festivals around the world including CPH:DOX 2013, F.A.M.E. Music and Arts Experience - la Gaîté lyrique, Planete+Doc and the Melbourne International Film Festival. In 2018, his film LADYWORLD, which he
co-wrote and edited premiered at Fantastic Fest, and screened at BFI London Film Festival and
the Marché du Film at Cannes. Most recently he co-edited Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, Kier-la Janisse's documentary on folk horror which premiered at Sitges, and garnered top prizes from Fantasia Festival and premiered at Sitges and won the Midnight Audience Award at SXSW.