Kevin Lee Burton (Swampy Cree) is an award-winning filmmaker, programmer and freelance editor. One of the main areas in which Kevin has focused his artistic endeavors is to explore how “traditional” concepts can be coherently iterated within technological contexts. Specifically, Kevin has designed a niche by working in his ancestral tongue, Cree.

Kevin received his film training at the Indigenous Independent Digital Filmmaking Program in North Vancouver, British Columbia, and has worked as program assistant for the Native and Indigenous Initiatives at the Sundance Institute in Beverly Hills, California. He was raised in the remote area of God’s Lake Narrows, Manitoba, but now lives and works in Vancouver.

Úna-Minh Kavanagh is a Gaeilgeoir and hails from Co. Kerry. She’s a journalist, author and multimedia content creator, and published her book, Anseo—about growing up in Kerry, the Irish language, identity, and racism—in 2019. In 2017, Úna-Minh won the award for Social Activist of the Year with U Magazine for her initiative, ‘We Are Irish’ and now edits the good news website WeAreIrish.ie. She’s a blogger and a live streamer who broadcasts in English and in the Irish language.

Born in the Rebel County, raised in The Kingdom and now living in The City of the Tribes, Louise was always destined to have an identity crisis, a theme that’s been strongly threaded through her work. She most recently received funding from Screen Ireland’s Director Conceptual Development Fund to develop her feature Skinfull—a blackly comic and visceral take on a girl’s decision to get sober. Also supported by Screen Ireland was her first feature script, Daniella, a black comedy about the double life of a transgender farmer in West Kerry. In 2019, she directed five episodes of the comedy drama series Flatmates, which is currently streaming on BBCiPlayer. The series follows the lives and aspirations of step-siblings as they move from London to Manchester and negotiate the world of adulting. She has returned to season two as lead director.

“Frenetic and funny, touching and blunt. But it’s also Louise Ní Fhiannachta’s direction that’s the star. The tone, pace, soundtrack and creative choices throughout bristle with an energy that’s been missing from a lot of Irish drama.” This is how the Irish Times described her comedy-musical-drama series, Eipic, which earned her an IFTA nomination for Best Director in 2016. Her multi-award-winning short, Rúbaí, was nominated for Best Narrative Short at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, during which time Louise featured in Indiewire’s Meet the Women Directors series. Other credits include the black comedies Lá Breá Chuige (TG4) and Dead Leaf Moth (The Lir). Louise cut her directing teeth on TG4’s Ros Na Rún, and it has served as a great education in performance directing, people managing, and coming in on-time and on-budget.

Although live action is her first love, she’s also directed three creative documentaries. Her IFTA-winning Páidí Ó Sé: Rí an Pharóiste (TG4) is an authored account of the life and complexities of a legendary Gaelic footballer as told by his community. It was also presented with the Celtic Media Spirit of the Festival Award in 2015. She also directed Finné: Louise Hannon and Finné: Peter Mulryan (both TG4), the latter being about a survivor of the Tuam Mother & Baby Home; it is one of the most important stories she will ever tell. Having started her career as a writer, her credits include the drama series Seacht (Season 1) (BBCNI/TG4), Ros Na Rún (TG4), and the RTÉ/Filmbase short, Cured.

Richly-complex characters and new ideas excite her. She is deeply passionate about getting to the heart of a story using a fresh and sometimes blackly comic lens. It is a joy for her to connect with actors and to explore with them a character’s journey, to reach and reveal the magic at the heart of everything. She is committed to working with imaginative teams to direct challenging stories that make a difference.

Grand Chief of Akwesasne for many years, Mike is a leading figure in First Nations Lacrosse. A celebrated and pioneering First Nations filmmaker, Mike made the widely-screened and groundbreaking 1969 film You are on Indian Land, a film which helped mobilize a new wave of Indigenous activism.

Bruce Roundpoint was inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1997 representing Akwesasne. Roundpoint’s family is known for being important stickmakers for the game, at one time supplying 97 per cent of the game’s sticks worldwide.

He was Captain of the All-Star Native Team that played in the 1980 Commonwealth Games. Bruce Roundpoint played for the Montreal Les Quebecois in the original National Lacrosse League under legendary coach Jim Bishop. Roundpoint was the scoring champion for both the Akwesasne warriors in 1977 and the Cornwall Island Thunder Birds in 1981.

Professor Regina Uí Chollatáin, a native of Co Donegal in Ireland, is the Chair of Irish and the Head of the UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore. Her main areas of research include Irish language revival, media and print culture, and women scholars in Irish language and culture. She has published widely in these areas in national and international academic and cultural journals. Her first book was An Claidheamh Soluis agus Fáinne an Lae, 1899-1932 (2004), and more recent co-edited books include Saothrú na Gaeilge scríofa i suímh uirbeacha na hÉireann, 1700-1850 (2017) and Litríocht na Gaeilge ar fud an Domhain (2015), and she contributed two chapters to the Edinburgh Press History of Media in the British Isles (2020).

Uí Chollatáin was awarded the Nicholas O’Donnell fellowship (Melbourne, 2019) and ICUF Senior Visiting Professor (2011-12). She is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Museum of Literature of Ireland (MoLI), the National Folklore Commission of Ireland, and the National Advanced Irish Language Skills Steering Group. She was a member of the first State board of TG4 (2007-12) and the Chair of the Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (2016-19). She is the current President of the Global Irish Diaspora Congress which she founded in 2017.

A graduate of UCD and KU Leuven (Belgium), James is CEO of the Ireland Canada University Foundation, a role which he balances with his work in the arts sector. Driven and inspired by values of community and creativity, he worked for some years in theatre, dance, and the visual arts—experience which greatly informed his subsequent work as a documentary filmmaker. He is chair of the internationally acclaimed Pan Pan Theatre Company, and a board member of the Fumbally Exchange.

As a filmmaker, with support from the Arts Council, TG4, RTE, and the Irish Film Board, James has made work which has broadcast nationally and internationally, and screened regularly at film festivals across Europe and North America.

Many years ago, James spent two years in St. John’s, Newfoundland, during which time he first visited the Mohawk territory of Kahnawake. This was a personal connection which in recent years he was grateful to have the opportunity to rekindle, working with the late Grand Chief Joseph Tokwiro Norton on numerous programmes to build friendship and connections between Turtle Island and Ireland.

Pura Fé, whose name means “Pure Faith,” was born in New York City and is an heir to the Tuscarora Indian Nation. She is an artist, an activist, and much more. Her musical journey, running the gamut from folk to mainstream through an artful use of the blues, reflects the concerns of an artist who grew up in the Motown era, while citing Buffy Sainte-Marie, Charley Patton and Joni Mitchell as her true mentors. And, more widely, “traditional music from all over the world, wherever the spirit is connected to our roots.”

Pura Fé has studied and performed with The American Ballet Theatre Company, and has been in several Broadway musicals and television commercials. She has sung for The Mercer Ellington Orchestra, countless Jazz, R&B, Rock bands and has stamped her distinct vocals on many recordings, demos, jingles, music videos and movie sound tracks/trailers through out her career. She is a founding member of the internationally renowned native woman’s a capella trio, Ulali, and is recognized for creating a new genre, bringing native contemporary music to the forefront of the mainstream music industry.

Pura Fé won a Nammy (Native American Music Award) for Best Female Artist for ‘Follow Your Hearts Desire’. She also won an L’académie Charles Cros Award (French Grammy) for Best World Album for her ‘Tuscarora Nation Blues’ album.