Meditation 4 Black Women

Award winning actress/writer/director/producer, Rukiya Bernard is of Kenyan and Jamaican heritage. Her work includes the short film “The Blactor” (Winner 2022 Leo Award – Best Short/Screenplay/Director) her award winning play “Yoga For Black Women,” (Winner of 2020 Theatre BC National Playwriting Competition) and the docu-short “El Color Negro” (Winner 2021 Leo – Best Short Documentary Screenplay). As an actor, Rukiya can most recently be seen on Yellowjackets.

Teana-Marie Smith (Producer) has worked in the Vancouver film industry for over 15 years. Having studied in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto, she has been credited as an actor on locally filmed series including, The Good Doctor (ABC), Altered Carbon (NETFLIX) and several others. She produced her first independent feature in 2019, which played at the London Film Festival in 2020. She is also a 2022 Leo Award Winning Producer for the short film, The Blactor.

Raised in the US, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and The Netherlands, Mariam Barry is an actor, writer, director and producer. This international lens ignites her filmmaking which celebrates the diversity of the Black experience. Mariam is a recipient of the Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices Initiative in 2021/2023 and is an alumni of the VIFF Catalyst Program. Other credits include: “Cypher” (Short doc, Telus Storyhive), “RISE” (Short film, Bakau Consulting Inc), “Legacy” (short film, ETC & Iris Studios), “Yaye” (short film, Uhuru Productions/Studio 104 Entertainment, Harold Greenberg: BC Shorts Program & Creative BC). As an actor, Mariam can be seen in Snowpiercer (Netflix) and Ashbridge (CBC Gem).

Jessie Anthony is a proud Haudenosaunee woman from the Onondaga Nation, Beaver clan, born and raised in the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario, Canada. Jessie graduated from the Indigenous Independent Filmmaking Program with a Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts from Capilano University. She’s a Telefilm Talent to Watch winner for her first feature film titled “Brother, I Cry,” which won BC Emerging Filmmaker Award at VIFF as well as Leo Awards for Best Screenwriting and Direction.

Born in Ecuador and raised in the Middle East, Andy graduated from Vancouver’s Capilano University’s Cinematography program in 2004. He began his career in film, working on several big-budget movies as a member of IATSE Local 891. He quickly realized his passion for filmmaking and began producing and shooting short films.
In 2017, Andy was the Producer and Director of Photography for the feature film, “Woodland,” which is now on Amazon Prime and across all major VOD platforms. He was the Producer of “ Brother, I Cry,” a Telefilm Talent to Watch funded feature set to be released in 2023. He ollowed up with his very own feature film, “ El Suspiro De Silencio,” which was shot in El Salvador in 2019 and released in the US, South America and the UK. Alongside producing, ndy works as a Director of Photography, shooting movies for networks like Oprah Winfrey, Netflix, Hallmark and Lifetime.