Kyas Hepworth is a Bundjalung woman and a respected leader in the screen and creative arts sector, dedicated to championing First Nations and under-represented voices and bringing distinctive, genuine stories to the screen. She is the first First Nations person to head a screen funding body in Australia and has collaborated on and supported numerous high-profile productions that have reached global audiences. Kyas previously served as the Head of Screen NSW. In this role, she spearheaded the state’s film, digital games and production strategy, advancing NSW as a leading national and international screen and post-production destination. Under her leadership, NSW achieved its highest level of screen production, attracting major international projects such as Sony Pictures’ Anyone But You, Universal Pictures’ The Fall Guy, and Warner Bros. Pictures’ Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. She also championed the development of NSW as a creative hub and supported initiatives to accelerate the careers of emerging practitioners from underrepresented communities. Before Screen NSW, Kyas was the Head of Commissioning and Programming at NITV (Special Broadcasting Services).There, she commissioned acclaimed projects including Warwick Thornton’s documentary series The Beach, Executive Produced the crime drama True Colours, and co-commissioned TV factual series The First Inventors. Her extensive creative expertise spans feature films, documentaries, and television, with experience at organizations like SBS, the Australian Film Television and Radio School, and Screen Australia. A leader in the sector, Kyas has held board positions for AusFilm, Australian International Documentary Conference, the Screen Diversity Inclusion Network and NIDA academic board. In 2021, she was an Official Competition Jury Member for the 68th Sydney Film Festival, and in 2023, she was a Featured Speaker at the inaugural SXSW Sydney.

Paul is the International Documentary Programmer at Sydney Film Festival. He is the Founder and Curator of First Films, which turns five this year, and is a Festival Consultant for Africa Film Fest Australia. Previously, he was the Festival Director for Mardi Gras Film Festival, Director of Programming at Frameline, Senior Programmer at Adelaide Film Festival, and an Associate Programmer at Tribeca. He also worked in other areas of the film industry in London, including roles in distribution at Revolver Entertainment, sales at Renaissance Films, and exhibition at Odeon Cinemas. He has served on juries for prestigious festivals, including Berlin and Cannes, and spoken at industry panels such as IFP Film Week in New York. In 2019, Paul co-founded the Programmers of Color Collective. As a producer, Paul is currently working on Down the Hume, Craig Boreham’s third feature, and served as Executive Producer on Lonesome. Other credits include Associate Producer on We Are Still Here and Tennessine, and Consulting Producer on The Longest Weekend. Paul was named one of Screen International’s 2024 Future Leaders.

In 2024 I returned to Hawai’i and took up the post of Director of Programmes for Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC). As part of this work I commissioned a documentary strand on PBS entitled “Pacific Heartbeat”. Before this I was the Senior Programme Executive and Executive Producer for BBC Storyville and Factual Acquisition. I joined the BBC initially as an Assistant Commissioner for Storyville. Most importantly I am Kanaka ʻŌiwi, Indigenous Native Hawaiian, and I’m proud to call the ancestral districts of Kohala and Waimea, Hawaiʻi home.

Lexi Landsman is a development executive at BBC Studios ANZ, working across both unscripted and scripted originals and formats, from early concept to commission. With more than 15 years’ experience in the television industry, Lexi has worked across every stage of the content pipeline from development, production and post-production, through to digital and social strategy. Before joining BBC, Lexi was Fremantle’s Head of Development, where she worked on the development of projects including The Secret DNA of US (SBS), The Piano (ABC), Tony Armstrong’s Extra-Ordinary Things (ABC). Prior to that she spent eight years in-house at Channel 7, and also held senior roles at ITV and Warner Bros. Her experience has spanned a wide spectrum of genres from ob docs, true crime, history, factual to reality, with her credits including Border Security, My Kitchen Rules, Nurses, Alone, Con Girl, Back in Time for Dinner, and Celebrity Apprentice. Lexi began her career as a print and multimedia journalist. With expertise in AI image and video generation, Lexi is a frequent speaker on the promise and perils of generative AI, and how it is transforming the screen industry. She is the author of two novels, published by Penguin Random House – The Ties That Bind and The Perfect Couple. The latter is in scripted development for an adaptation into an eight-part psychological thriller series set in Italy.

Electra Manikakis is an Emmy® Award-winning Executive Producer for Wild Pacific Media – a production company with a specialist focus in long form science and natural history programming. She has a career in television spanning over 35 years, from news and current affairs, entertainment, and live outside broadcasts to award winning high-end documentary series. Electra has an instinct for finding stories that need telling and bringing the right people together to tell those stories. Her documentary credits include Australia’s first Netflix Original Documentary Puff: Wonders of The Reef (Outstanding Nature Documentary, 2022 News & Documentary Emmy® Awards), the landmark documentary series, Australia’s Wild Odyssey and Australia’s Ocean Odyssey (ABC/ARTE); the feature documentary Shackleton: The Greatest Story of Survival; and the IMAX films Australia – The Wild Top End, Ocean Currents 3D, and Out of Bounds: A Mountain Adventure. Most recently, Electra executive produced the landmark 3 part series The Kimberley for the ABC.

Katrina is a multi-skilled, independent documentary filmmaker with 20 years industry experience. Her work has screened internationally with ABC, SBS, Al Jazeera, the UN Headquarters and Sundance. She directed/produced the series Pop-Ability (2017) about a pop girl-group with disabilities for ABC iView and collaborated with First Nations Writer/Director Dylan Coleman to create short docs for NITV and the Adelaide Film Festival. Katrina worked with Closer Productions to produce A Field Guide to Being a 12-Year-Old Girl for ABCME – which was awarded a Crystal Bear at the 2018 Berlinale – and the animated documentary series A Game of Three Halves, which was selected for Hot Docs 2021. Katrina’s most recent feature film Songs Inside, about a music program in the Adelaide Women’s Prison, won the prestigious Film Prize at the 2025 CinfestOz Film Festival and the Documentary Australia prize at the 2025 Sydney Film Festival, and is nominated in the 2026 AACTA Awards.

Erika Dilday, producer, journalist and media executive, is the Executive Director of American Documentary Inc. and the Executive Producer of its award-winning documentary series POV on PBS and America ReFramed on WORLD. Previously, she was the CEO of Futuro Media Group, a multimedia organization that gives a critical voice to the diversity of the American experience through award-winning journalistic content for and about BIPOC. Prior to Futuro Media, she was the Executive Director of Maysles Documentary Center where she oversaw community cinema, filmmaking programs and produced the acclaimed documentary, In Transit. Erika also held strategic planning and financial management roles at The New York Times, National Geographic Television and CBS. She is a graduate of Harvard College, the Columbia School of Journalism and Columbia Business School. In 2020 she was a Knight Nieman fellow at Harvard University where she authored a piece for the Nieman Reports on authentic journalism in communities of color. Erika is a 2016 recipient of the Columbia Journalism School Alumni Award and a 2017 National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Fellow. Her latest film projects include Civil War with Rachel Boynton and Meanwhile with Catherine Gund.

Spiro Economopoulos is a film curator at ACMI. Previously he was the Artistic Director of the Europa! Europa Film Festival, a celebration of new European cinema and the Program Director for the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, one of the largest and oldest LGBTI+ film festivals in the southern hemisphere. Spiro has also led the programming for the Dungog Film Festival, the Perth Commonwealth Film Festival, written plays for Melbourne Workers Theatre, directed and written short films for SBS, served on numerous film juries and selections panels including the St Kilda Film Festival and MIFF and has been a regular film reviewer and writer for various publications including Australia’s No.1 online arts platform, ArtsHub.

Daniel is a Yorta Yorta man and Melbourne based writer and broadcaster. He is the winner of the 2018 Horne Prize for his essay Ten More Days. He also hosts The Mission on 3RRR FM. Daniel is the co-host of the 7am Podcast for Solstice media and is a contributor to the IndigenousX, SBS, Crikey, the Age/Sydney Morning Herald, the Guardian. Daniel’s work explores notions of empathy, intergenerational trauma, hidden history and the political landscape that continues to shape the lives of Aboriginal people across the country. He is currently working on his first book with Affirm Press and was creative lead for Yoorrook Justice Commission’s report Truth Be Told and has recently been assisting the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria with the Treaty process. He co-administers The Spencer Street End, with friend Jacinta Parsons.

Zoe Ferguson is an award-winning podcast producer who works at ABC Radio National, currently producing the weekly history show No One Saw It Coming hosted by Marc Fennell. She produced the series Stuff The British Stole, as well as Take Me To Your Leader (Season 3) and documentaries for Earshot, The History Listen, Rear Vision and the BBC. Zoe has also worked as a lecturer in podcasting at the University of Sydney teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students the art of audio storytelling. She was a final round judge at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards.

Brooke Collard is a Ballardong/Whadjuk Noongar film producer and multidisciplinary artist driven to supporting First Nations stories across screen, VR, podcasting and games. Based in Broome, Western Australia, Brooke is a Noongar practitioner and using contemporary screen practices, builds platforms for community voices to be heard both locally and internationally. She is the founder of Goguljar Yok, a First Nations-led production company, and has produced award-winning short films including Aboriginal Warrior, Marlu Man and Anangu Way. With a slate spanning web series, documentary, and VR projects, Brooke champions First Nations creatives and advocates for alternative pathways into the media industry. Their work reflects a commitment to truth-telling, cultural preservation, and decolonising the industry’s status quo through a lens of genuine care, accountability, and technological innovation. Brooke has participated in national and international development labs, including Netflix’s highly competitive Broad Horizons, SPA Ones To Watch 2021, and Docs By The Sea, and is actively forging relationships with global partners. Their work is not just about representation, it’s about embracing ethical sustainability from a First Nations lens, First Nations story agency, and transforming the screen landscape from the inside out.

Jana Blair has previously been described as a 3D printer due to her remarkable ability to transform ideas into concrete reality. In her previous roles at VicScreen, Jana was focused on designing programs and initiatives that build the capacity and capability of the Victorian screen sector and she was part of the team that successfully attracted the Imagine Impact Lab to Australia, its first foray outside of the US. Jana’s particular focus on advocating for storytelling within new platforms supported the expansion of agency funding streams into virtual reality and the delivery of Frame Documentary Labs.