Dylan Varella is a New York-based filmmaker who loves building projects from the ground up. As both a director and editor, he’s a one-stop shop for commercials, music videos, and documentaries, and the control freak in him is most satisfied when he gets to be involved at every stage of the creative process. He’s fueled by the thrill of creating something new, working with talented people, and finding inventive ways to bring stories to life.

Darion D’Anjou started in film as a traditional filmmaker specializing in visual effects and science fiction and has transitioned in recent years to ai film production. He is currently working as a generative ai artist in a full-time contract role with Meta, while continuing to pursue his own creative projects. An award-winning generative ai artist and ai filmmaker, he is passionate about leveraging his background in filmmaking and VFX to shape the future of cinema through artificial intelligence. He previously worked at visual effects powerhouse Digital Domain, founded by James Cameron, where he contributed to major Hollywood blockbusters including Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, HBO’s The Last of Us, and more. He now writes and directs ai short films—several of which have been well received online as well as at film festivals—toward the goal of writing and directing profitable ai-driven feature films.

Laila Jhané is a creative researcher and AI consultant who helps institutions, small businesses, and freelancers put AI to work through practical workshops and personalized consultations. She has led trainings at Spelman College Innovation Lab and Third World Newsreel. Her creative work has been featured in Motionographer, Eyedrum Art Gallery, and most recently Atlanta Art Fair. Laila’s mission is to make new technology accessible and useful, bridging the gap between experimentation and everyday impact.

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Tanju Ozdemir is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Media at Emory University. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory, he held positions at the University of Connecticut, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Emerson College. His teaches courses on screenwriting, directing, cinematography, and video production.

Tanju is a Turkish filmmaker who writes and directs narrative films that study the complexities of immigration, identity, and memory. His works have been selected for many prominent national and international film festivals.

He has just completed production of his short film "Woodpecker," which follows the story of a Kurdish gay graduate student from Turkey seeking asylum while familiarizing himself with the Turkish-Kurdish diaspora in the U.S.

He is currently working on a feature film called "Black Hole," which focuses on the generational ripples of the Greek-Turkish population exchange within the contemporary context of the U.S. and Turkey.

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