Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is an Academy Award‒winning filmmaker, drummer, DJ, producer, director, culinary entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author, who is the unmistakable heartbeat and co-founder of Philadelphia’s most influential hip-hop group, The Roots. The artist is a modern-day renaissance man and award-winning creative force that made his directorial debut with the Academy Award‒winning feature documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). He is next set to direct the definitive documentary on the iconic group Earth Wind And Fire. The film will mark Questlove’s latest foray into filmmaking following his directorial debut and will be produced by Two One Five Entertainment (the production company founded by The Roots’ Questlove and Black Thought). Thompson is also currently directing a documentary about Sly and the Family Stone, set to co-direct the upcoming SNL50 music documentary and has additionally executive produced documentaries The League, from Academy Award nominee Sam Pollard, and Sundance award winner Descendant, from Emmy nominee Margaret Brown. Questlove has written multiple books, including the New York Times bestsellers Mo’ Meta Blues, Creative Quest, Music Is History, The Rhythm of Time, the first book in his middle grade series of the same name, and his picture book, The Idea In You. He is the publisher of AUWA, an imprint of MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux on the Macmillan platform. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson currently serves as the musical director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where The Roots serves as the house band.

Liz Garbus is a two-time Emmy Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker who has helmed some of the most celebrated documentaries and premium drama series today as a director and executive producer under her prolific company Story Syndicate. A select filmography of Garbus’ esteemed documentary work includes The Farm: Angola, USA; What Happened, Miss Simone?; Harry & Meghan; Bobby Fischer Against the World; Nothing Left Unsaid; The Fourth Estate; I’ll Be Gone in the Dark; All In: The Fight for Democracy; and Becoming Cousteau, among others.

Oscar and Emmy nominated producer-director Reginald Hudlin is one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation.  He is the director of feature films like HOUSE PARTY, BOOMERANG, MARSHALL, THE BLACK GODFATHER, SAFETY, CANDY CANE LANE, and SIDNEY.  He’s produced movies like DJANGO UNCHAINED, BEBE’S KIDS and television shows like PHAT TUESDAY, FRIDAY NIGHT VIBES with Tiffany Haddish, THE BOONDOCKS, and the BLACK PANTHER animated series.

Hudlin’s latest film, NUMBER ONE ON THE CALL SHEET: BLACK LEADING MEN IN HOLLYWOOD, a documentary celebrating Black achievement in the film industry and what it takes for Black male actors to succeed in the film business, premiered this March on Apple TV+.

Michelle Khare (5M+ subscribers) lives life to the extreme by taking on intense physical and mental challenges in her docuseries, “Challenge Accepted.” With a mission to highlight diverse communities, Michelle brings compassion to each project and community she becomes a part of. With disarming wit and emotional openness, Michelle draws out stories from those reluctant to be on camera while bravely sharing her own struggles. Lauded for her emotional awareness, exceptional interviewing, and raw storytelling, Michelle showcases that with enough hard work, dedication, and failure — anything is possible.

Emma Schwartz is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist. She was a director on the Emmy-nominated series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV (Max/ID), lauded as one of 2024’s “most explosive investigative documentaries.” Most recently, she directed the docuseries The Fall of Diddy (Max/ID). In 2022, she produced and directed Elon Musk’s Crash Course, a feature documentary for The New York Times Presents series on FX and Hulu. Her credits also include more than a dozen films for PBS’s flagship investigative series FRONTLINE. Before turning to documentaries, Emma was a print journalist.

Yoruba Richen is a Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker and recipient of the Trailblazer Award from Black Public Media. Her work has appeared on Netflix, MSNBC, Peacock, FX/Hulu, and PBS. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks won a Gracie Award and was honored by the Television Academy. Her films include the Emmy-nominated American Reckoning, How It Feels to Be Free, The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show, and Green Book: Guide to Freedom. The Killing of Breonna Taylor won an NAACP Image Award. Yoruba is the founding director of the Documentary Program at CUNY’s Newmark J-School.

Mary Robertson is an Emmy-winning, Peabody- and Grammy-nominated director and executive producer behind some of today’s most culturally resonant investigative documentaries. Her latest, The Fall of Diddy for ID, became the platform’s No. 1 show within days. She also directed and executive produced Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Max’s most-watched title and a two-time Emmy nominee. Maxine’s other credits include the Emmy-nominated Glitter and Greed: The Lisa Frank Story and South Korea’s Adoption Reckoning, also Emmy- and Peabody-nominated. Previously, Mary produced the Emmy-nominated Framing Britney Spears, The Circus, and episodes of FRONTLINE.

Acclaimed filmmaker Lance Oppenheim is known for blending nonfiction storytelling with heightened, cinematic formalism and flourishes of the surreal.   Oppenheim’s first critically acclaimed documentary feature, “Some Kind of Heaven,” premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was produced by Darren Aronofsky & The New York Times (one of the paper’s first feature film productions).   His sophomore feature documentary, “SPERMWORLD,” premiered on FX and is now available on Hulu.   Oppenheimer made his docu-series debut with “Ren Faire,” produced by Elara Pictures and HBO.   The acclaimed three-part docu-fantasia centers around an epic succession battle at America’s largest renaissance festival.

For over 20 years, award-winning filmmaker DAVID TEDESCHI has worked in creative collaboration with Martin Scorsese. Alongside the legendary filmmaker, Tedeschi co-directed the critically acclaimed feature documentaries Personality Crisis: One Night Only and The Fifty-Year Argument. Other credits include Netflix’s Pretend It’s a City (executive producer/editor), the Bob Dylan documentary The Rolling Thunder Revue(producer and editor), Shine a Light with the Rolling Stones (editor), George Harrison: Living in the Material World (editor), and No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (editor). Beatles ’64 marks Tedeschi’s solo feature directorial debut.