Mom vs. Machine

Tesh Guttikonda is a filmmaker born in India, raised in Canada. Having never been in a place for longer than two years at a time till he was 14, Tesh’s formative years of exploring different cultures and landscapes around the world shape his diverse filmmaking style. Since discovering his passion for filmmaking Tesh has worn many hats, writing, producing, directing, and editing several short films, and music videos which have gained traction around the world. Tesh established his production company Kalpana Films with the mandate to branch out and create empowering, diverse stories that bring people together.

Praneet Akilla is an Indian-Canadian actor/producer. After deciding to pursue acting full-time with an engineering degree in hand, his versatility and range has been displayed on stage and on film. Most recently he starred as Phillip Mishra in the Netflix Original series “October Faction”. He has also performed with many reputable theater companies in Canada & abroad, with several lead roles. He will next be starring in the Indian Epic “Mahabharata” at the Shaw Theatre Festival, and Nancy Drew on the CW.

Bhavesh Chauhan is an independent filmmaker and music video director. His career in filmmaking has spanned almost 15 years with humble beginnings making shorts with his friends in high school. Many of his films have gone on to screen and win awards at numerous film festivals around the world. Some recent productions that feature his work include shorts “Prisoner,” “Lovely Mummers,” and “A Calling,” a web series pilot with TELUS StoryHive “Lux-Me,” and a feature film “Jewel Fools” which screened at the Calgary International Film Festival.

Kashif Pasta is an award-winning writer, director, and producer with a laser focus on empowering people of colour to tell stories with purpose and joy. He co-created and directed the hit digital series Welcome to Surrey for TELUS and Dunya Media, co-created the Untitled BTR Project with Sameer Gardezi for Paul Feig’s Powderkeg, and was a 2018 ABC Television Comedy Lab fellow for his half-hour pilot “Long Distance”.

One of the Canadian Media Producers Association’s Next Generation of Producers to Watch, Shyam Valera is a producer, writer and co-founder of Dunya, a production company that empowers people of colour to tell stories with purpose. And do so with a sense of wonder and fun.

Jasleen Kaur is a Leo-nominated filmmaker and graduate of Capilano University’s Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts Degree Program. She is best known for directing the award winning documentary “Maple” (2017), and for producing “Red Chef Revival” (2019), a docu-series that explores modern Indigenous cuisine. A frequent collaborator with Hodgee Films, Kaur has worked as a producer, editor and post production supervisor on projects such as “Who Let the Dogs Out” (2019), ESPN’s “Robot Fan Cave” (2019), and the Mark Wahlberg series “Run This City” (2020). Kaur’s upcoming project “Perfect Daughter” is a grant recipient of BIPOC TV & Film’s Reel Work Filmmaking Initiative.