Director / Writer:
Jahmil Eady is an award-winning writer, director and producer from Charleston, SC and NYC. Her work blends genre with social impact and often features people in futuristic or fantastical environments. She is a director in the AFI DWW+ class of 2025.
Eady earned her BA in Media Studies from Pomona College and studied at the Prague Film School in the Czech Republic. Eady holds an MFA in Directing from UCLA where she was the inaugural Graduate Class Artist, representing over 14,000 Bruins for the class of 2023. She is also the Princess Grace Foundation's inaugural Sir Roger Moore Honoree in Filmmaking.
Eady began her career in unscripted film and television and was an associate producer on documentary projects for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), Viceland and Discovery Networks. Collectively, her short films have screened at over 50 film festivals worldwide, including several Academy Award® and BAFTA-qualifying film festivals. Her work has been supported by Film Independent, Plate Spinner Productions, Peace Is Loud, rePROFilm, New Filmmakers Los Angeles’ NewNarratives Program and the Rhulen Family Foundation among others.
Eady's other distinctions include The New York Times Award, The Jackie Robinson Foundation Award and the Four Sisters Award bestowed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, Sara Finney-Johnson, Mara Brock Akil and Felicia D. Henderson.
Producer:
Simone Kirlew is a first-generation Jamaican-Canadian-American producer. Simone is a graduate of the Producing MFA Program at the American Film Institute Conservatory where she was a finalist of the prestigious Producer Guild of America’s Debra Hill Fellowship. During her time at AFI, she produced 10 narrative films including her thesis LA BRUJA which went on to win the Audience Award at the 2023 Hola Mexico Film Festival.
She began her career in the film industry interning for a film financier and development executive in Montreal, QC. While still at AFI, Simone accepted a position as Assistant Production Coordinator at Cinecom Productions Limited in Kingston, Jamaica where she worked on multi-million dollar Hulu and BBC television shows. Recently, she was a Production Coordinator for ColorCreative founded by Issa Rae, Deniese Davis and Talitha Watkins. Simone was instrumental in the operations of the inaugural Find Your People Program and the company's expansion as a full-scale production services destination.
Simone aims to tell stories that showcase women, specifically women of color, in positions of power across fields and experiences.
Cinematographer:
Pip K. White is a London born Cinematographer and Photographer. She studied fine art at the renowned Central Saint Martins, and with the support of BAFTA studied her Masters in Cinematography at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. She learned the art of lighting during her near decade of experience as an Operator, Camera Assistant, and DOP Technical Assistant under the tutelage of award winning DP's Caroline Champetier (Annette), Ben Davis (Dr Strange) and Philippe Rousselot (Fantastic Beasts) amongst others. Pip has since gone on to shoot music videos, commercials and features with her work screening in competition at SXSW, Tribeca, Camerimage and AFI Fest.