Ma-an Asuncion-Dagñalan is a director, a contemporary filmmaker, and a scriptwriter. She was awarded as Best Director in Cinemalaya Film Festival 2022 through her full-length film titled 'Blue Room.' Born in San Fernando, Pampanga, she attended cinematography class in 2003, and studied Mexican filmmaking under the Mexican director Gustavo Loza in 2006 at the Mowelfund Film Institute. She trained under National Artist Ricky Lee and Armando Lao for scriptwriting. She was also the producer, cinematographer, and co-writer of Layang Bilanggo which won Best Screenplay and Best Picture at the 2010 Cinema One Originals Film Festival.
Jarell is an emerging filmmaker and producer from Davao City. His films explore the lives of people living in the margins of society. He started as a researcher and writer for a drama anthology show on national TV network, Maalalala Mo Kaya. His first short film, Victor won the Best Short Feature film at Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival 2012. Mga Bitoon sa Siyudad (Stars in the City) was his next short that won the Best Director award at Metro Manila Film Festival 2016. His latest, Siyudad sa Bulawan (City of Gold) was co-funded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and was a Jury Prize winner for short film category at CineFilipino 2018. The film also earned him the FAMAS award for Best Short Feature in 2019 and was screened in various international film festivals like SeaShorts in Malaysia, Jogja NETPAC Asian Film Festival in Indonesia and Stockholm Environmental Film Festival in Sweden.
Sheryl Rose Andes is a media scholar, an educator, and a development worker. She took Bachelor of Science in Community Development and later on had her Master of Arts in Media Studies (Film) in the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. Her first feature film, a Carlos Palanca-winning script, Pandanggo sa Hukay was a finalist at Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival in August 2019. She is also a part of several films such as Eerie and Kusina as Assistant Director and production crew. She is currently a faculty member at the Digital Film program of the School of Media Studies, Mapua University handling courses in digital cinema, documentary, regional cinema, gender, and research. Maria, her first full-length documentary, is also the first documentary to compete in Cinemalaya history.
Arjanmar Rebeta is a photographer, director and a producer. His short film, An Sadit na Planeta, won NETPAC Jury Prize & Special Jury Prize at 17th CinemalayaPhilippine Independent Film Festival. He is an alumnus of Ricky Lee Film Scriptwriting Workshop, Film & Media for Human Rights Advocacy Workshop, Mindanao Screen Lab and the first Cinemalaya Film Lab. He also received the "Harvest of Honors" Award for Cinema from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. He obtained significant awards internationally including the Best Director award at 7th Hak-İş, an International Short Film Festival in 2018, Turley, Silver Award at the 25th ifva 2020 Award in Hong Kong, and Best International Short Film at Short Film Festival on Cultural Diversity and Peace in 2019, Bangladesh.
Wilfredo M. Canoy, or Teacher Wayie as he is fondly called by his students, was one of the Senior Head Facilitators of the art and animation workshops for children and teens in CCP, UP Film Center, Mowelfund Film Institute and Metropolitan Museum. He was also a founding member of the group Pinoy Animagination, together with Ellen Ramos and Ricky Orellana. Part of his well-loved stint in the animation industry was becoming an illustrator/animator for the children's show, Batibot. One of his short film entries in CCP's Gawad Alternatibo is "Tetris o Aso", in which he worked with Ellen Ramos and won the first prize in the animation category in the 1990's.