Niitsitapi, amateur physicist, frybread-eating machine, Damien Eagle Bear is a multifaceted filmmaker from the Kainai First Nation of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Damien started with the short experimental documentary Napi, which asks the question, what will happen when the Blackfoot trickster gets behind the camera? The film premiered at the opening night of the 37th American Indian Film Festival in 2012, and since then, Damien has continued to expand his skillset from directing to producing, including premiering two films, q’sapi times and Big Momma at the Vancouver International Film Festival in the same year. With his latest project, he returns to directing for the feature documentary #skoden, which delves into the origins of NDN countries' most iconic meme to redefine the man at the center of it all. Damien’s work explores the themes of belonging and Indigenous resiliency.

Anaïs Elboujdaïni is an award-winning Journalist for Radio-Canada based in Vancouver, BC. She is also a co-founder and former director of programming of a film festival in Vancouver which highlights the cinema of the Middle East and North Africa and its diasporas, called the MENA Film Festival. Before a stint as a freelance reporter, she worked with La Converse in Montréal, and previously as a videojournalist at Noovo Info in Québec. Her reporting lead her to the USA, Germany, Morocco and Bangladesh. When she's away from the keyboard, you can find her singing at karaoke, playing boardgames or drinking a good coffee.

Olivia Norquay is the Film Programmer at the Winnipeg Film Group’s Dave Barber Cinematheque, a non-profit artist-run centre and arthouse cinema located on Treaty One Territory and the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. Olivia is responsible for Cinematheque’s year-round programming, including programming for the Gimme Some Truth Documentary Film Festival, and curating a variety of special programming events and film series. Olivia oversees programming in accordance with the Winnipeg Film Group's mandate to advance the art of the moving image, fostering a culture of independent cinema appreciation throughout the organization.