Joan Nicks is a film historian, critic and writer. She programs public film series at the Niagara Falls History Museum. Her most recent books explore the historical twists and turns of Niagara Falls as a border city and tourist destination.

Jury: Narrative shorts

Jess Nguyen is a community builder, with one foot in environmentalism and the other in local art. Her hands-on experience extends beyond her formal education — videography and environmental science— to stage productions, art installations, playing in a band, organizing events, and much more. She loves the process of building up delightful, odd, amusing, and immersive experiences. Additionally, she enjoys organizing and participating in environmentally focused events and projects in the community.

Jury: Narrative shorts

Pirouz Nemati is an independent filmmaker, artist and actor currently based in Montreal. Nemati’s films, video and photography work has been showcased in Iran, Canada and the U.S. He served as an executive producer, co-screenwriter, and actor in Matthew Rankin’s award winning film Universal Language (2024) and most recently directed a feature-length documentary, Hemela (2025), which profiles 80-year-old matriarch and owner of Montreal’s Byblos Le Petit Café.

Jury: Experimental shorts

Through video, textile, installation, and performance, Farheen HaQ (@farheenhaqart) explores the histories we inherit, and the futures we create. ⁠ Rooted in lineages from Bihar and Karachi and raised in Niagara on Haudenosaunee territory, her work engages Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb as a living framework for cultural synthesis and relation-making on Turtle Island. ⁠ As a celebrated artist, HaQ has exhibited her work in galleries and festivals throughout Canada and internationally including New York, Paris, Buenos Aires, Lahore, Hungary, and Romania.

Jury: Experimental shorts

Barry Keith Grant is professor emeritus of film studies and popular culture at Brock University. The first film studies scholar to be elected to the Royal Society of Canada and  the author or editor of more than forty books on film, he has lectured around the world on and his writing has been translated into multiple languages.

Jury: Documentary shorts

Christie Milliken (Ph.D. University of Southern California) researches environmental media, social documentary, as well as sex education film and video practices. She teaches classes in gender and film, documentary history and theory, American and international film history and Ecoinema.

Jury: Documentary shorts