Yim Soon-rye studied filmmaking at the University of Paris 8 before becoming one of South Korea’s most prominent female directors. Known for her sympathetic focus on marginalised lives and socially conscious stories, she debuted with Three Friends (1996) and built a acclaimed filmography including Waikiki Brothers (2001), the box-office hit Forever the Moment (2008), The Whistleblower (2014), Little Forest (2018) and The Point Men (2023).

Beyond directing, Yim is a prominent advocate for social causes, serving as president of an animal rights association for 12 years and co-leading the Korean Center for Gender Equality in Film.

Anthony Wong is an Honorary Fellow and inaugural Acting programme graduate of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Since starting his film career in the 1980s, he has appeared in over 150 films—including The Untold Story (1993), Beast Cops (1998), Ordinary Heroes (1999) and the Infernal Affairs trilogy (2002–2003)—demonstrating remarkable versatility.

Renowned for his performances, Wong is the first Hong Kong actor to have won Best Actor awards in film, television and theatre, including accolades at the Hong Kong Film Awards, Golden Horse Awards, TVB Anniversary Awards and Hong Kong Drama Awards. He is currently focused on his visual art practice.

Sabiha Sumar is an acclaimed Pakistani filmmaker and a Sundance alumnus. Her documentaries and narrative features focus on gender, religious fundamentalism and political identity in Pakistan.

She gained international recognition for her feature debut, Silent Waters (2003), which won 17 international awards such as the Golden Leopard at Locarno. Her notable documentaries also include Who Will Cast the First Stone (1988), Dinner with the President (2007) and Azmaish: A Journey Through the Subcontinent (2017). Sumar co-founded Vidhi Films, the first Pakistani independent film company, which produced the Academy Award and Emmy winner Saving Face (2012) and the Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner Joyland (2022).

William Phuan is an experienced arts leader and the Executive Director of the Singapore Book Council, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting Singaporean literature and multicultural literary arts. He also serves as Chairman of the Asian Film Archive.

With an extensive background spanning Singapore and the US, Phuan has worked across journalism, arts policy, film curation, and arts management education. His prior leadership roles include Director of The Arts House and Programme Director for the New York Asian American International Film Festival.

Cattleya Paosrijaroen is a Bangkok-based independent producer and co-founder of 185 Films alongside Soros Sukhum. For over a decade, she has been collaborating regionally and internationally with curators, visual artists and independent filmmakers, fluidly bridging narrative cinema and contemporary art.

Her producing credits include Prabda Yoon’s Motel Mist (2016), the omnibus project Ten Years Thailand (2018), Taiki Sakpisit’s FIPRESCI-winning feature The Edge of Daybreak (2021) and Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prix winner A Useful Ghost (2025). She also co-produced Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cannes Jury Prize winner Memoria (2021). Her upcoming films include Pathompon Tesprateep’s Tremble Like a Flower.

Born in Singapore and based in Taiwan for over a decade, Chiang Wei Liang completed his MFA in Film Directing from Taipei National University of the Arts.

Mentored by Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien, his work focuses on the migration of Southeast Asians and their diaspora in modern Asia. His acclaimed shorts include Anchorage Prohibited (2016), which won the Audi Short Film Award at the Berlinale and Best Singapore Short Film at SGIFF. Chiang’s feature debut, Mongrel (2024), won the Camera d’Or Special Mention at Cannes, Best New Director with You Qiao Yin at the Golden Horse Awards, and the Best Asian Feature Film at SGIFF.

Patrick F. Campos is a film scholar, curator, and professor at the University of the Philippines Film Institute. His work focuses on Asian cinemas, bringing research, criticism, programming and regional film culture into conversation.

He is the author of The End of National Cinema and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Cinemas. He serves as editor-in-chief of Pelikula: A Journal of Philippine Cinema and Moving Image and curates programmes for Tingin Film Festival.

He has served on juries and selection committees for international film festivals, such as BIFAN, Vesoul, Yamagata, JAFF, Image Forum, Minikino, QCinema and Cinemalaya.