Rober Calzadilla is an actor, screenwriter and director. He trained at the Juana Sujo School of Performing Arts and the Central University of Venezuela School of the Arts. His directorial credits include the mid-length El país de abril (13) and El Amparo (16), his feature debut.     

Sophia is an experienced producer, director and cinematographer, and has worked for organizations including the BBC and Channel 4. She has also worked extensively as a self shooting camerawoman across Africa and Asia on projects for the UN, PBS, CBC, The New York Times and Human Rights Watch among others. After completing a foundation year at the European Film College in Denmark in 2002 she went on to study Documentary Film and Television graduating with a BA (Hons ) from the International Film School of Wales before moving to Kenya where she spent the first 6 years of her film career. Sophia then made her first feature documentary In the Shadow of War in Bosnia in 2014 which was nominated for the Grand Jury Award at Sheffield Doc Fest and the First Appearance and Oxfam Global Justice Awards at IDFA. She recently completed her second feature film, Lost in Lebanon, filmed on the Syrian border during 2014-2016. 

Georgia is an experienced producer, director and editor. Her first documentary film, set in Kenya explored the threats facing a unique Swahili community on Lamu Island on the border with Somalia. Georgia graduated with a BA (hons) degree in Production Design from the University of the Arts, London in 2011. She went on to manage a product design company before setting up GroundTruth Productions with Sophia. Georgia then made her first feature documentary In the Shadow of War in Bosnia in 2014 which was nominated for the Grand Jury Award at Sheffield Doc Fest and the First Appearance and Oxfam Global Justice Awards at IDFA. She recently completed her second feature film, Lost in Lebanon, filmed on the Syrian border during 2014-2016.

Alexander Kuznetsov work's as a photographer was published in many magazines and exhibited in Russia (Russian Museum Of Saint Petersburg), Norway, France, the U.S.A. and Germany. He begins his cinematographic career in 2009 by participating in a writing residence in Krasnoyarsk.  He directed his first documentary in 2010 : “Territory of Love” which was screened in France, at Lussas “Etats Généraux du Documentaire” and at the Honfleur Russian Cinema Festival, as well as in Russia (Artdocfest Festival, Moscow). In 2014, he finished his second movie, "Territory of Freedom" which was premiered in the official competition in Visions du Réel (Switzerland) and theatrical released in february 2015 and which won the award of Documentaire sur Grand Écran at the Amiens Festival. "We'll be alright" is his third film and will be screen as a world premiere in the Feature International Competition in Visions du Réel Festival (Switzerland). Formerly a photographer, Alexander begins his cinematographic career in 2009 by participating in a writing residence. He directed his first documentary in 2010 and finished his second movie in 2014. Both were screened and awarded in several festivals all around the world. 

Tonislav Hristov is a crazy Bulgarian guy who moved to Finland and started to make films. In RULES OF SINGLE LIFE (2011) he explores his divorce from his then-wife and that of his friends. LOVE & ENGINEERING (2014) is a film about digital geeks looking for analogue love. SOUL FOOD STORIES (2013) premiered at IDFA 2013 and ONCE UPON A DREAM in Karlovy Var 2015. His works have been shown at Tribeca, Karlovy Var, Sarajevo Film Festivals, IDFA, Hot Docs, Visions du Réel Nyon, Busan International Film Festival and many others. 

Tiffany Hsiung is an award-winning filmmaker based in Toronto. Her approach to storytelling is driven by the relationships she builds with people. Since 2009, Hsiung has been documenting the lives of survivors of military sexual slavery during World War II, inflicted by the Japanese Imperial Army, for her first feature-length film, The Apology (2015). For the past six years, Hsiung has been advocating in communities and universities across North America for the grandmothers (survivors known as “comfort women”), as they fight for justice, by sharing their stories. Her most recent presentation at the United Nations in New York brought to light one of history’s greatest and unresolved injustices on the world stage for human-rights issues.

Director and Photographer Zaradasht Ahmed is a Kurdish/Norwegian Filmmaker. He was born and raised in Northern Iraq. His previous work includes the award-winning “Road to Diyarbakir”, and he has many years of experience working with documentary filmmaking in the Middle East, North-Africa, and Asia, as well as training local people in documentation. His latest film on the topic of illegal immigration to Europe (for SVT Swedish Television) – “Fata Morgana”, has been screened at several prestigious Film festivals.

Raoul Peck’s complex body of work includes feature narrative films like The Man by the Shore (Competition Cannes 1993), Lumumba (Director’s Fortnight, Cannes 2000, bought and aired by HBO), Sometimes in April (HBO, Berlinale 2005), Moloch Tropical (Toronto 2009, Berlin 2010) and Murder in Pacot (Toronto 2014, Berlin 2015). His documentaries include Lumumba, Death of a Prophet (1990), Desounen (1994, BBC) and Fatal Assistance (Berlinale,Hot Docs 2013) which was supported by the Sundance Institute and Britdoc Foundation (UK) and broadcast on major TV channels (Canal+, ARTE, etc.) In 2001, Human Rights Watch awarded him with the Irene Diamond Lifetime Achievement Award. He recently completed shooting his latest feature film, The Young Karl Marx, a European coproduction, shot in Germany and Belgium.

Ben Lear graduated from NYU in 2010 with a degree in music composition. As his senior recital, Lear wrote and performed his folk-opera, Lillian, about a man, who travels to the great pacific garbage patch to reclaim all he’s lost, with a 20-piece orchestra and light show. Upon the album’s release, he partnered with Plastic Pollution Coalition and 5Gyres to raise awareness for plastic pollution. This work has led Lear to performances at TED and the UN. As a result of shooting this film, Ben sits on the advisory board of InsideOUT Writers and is an ally member within the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, teaching a weekly writing class within the Compound and mentoring former juvenile offenders upon reentry.

The Nest Collective are a small army of thinkers, makers, and believers. They use film, visual arts, music, and fashion to dissect and subvert how Africans are seen and unseen, what they can and cannot do, where they can and cannot go, and what they can and cannot say.