Ben Hethcoat is a documentary filmmaker and journalist based in Los Angeles. He currently serves as Senior Producer at Crooked Media, the progressive outlet behind "Pod Save America" and other hit podcasts. Prior to this, Ben was a Digital Producer at public radio’s Marketplace, where he created engaging content about the economy and why it matters. As a filmmaker, Ben has produced several features (The Mortuary Collection and Dead Dad) alongside an array of acclaimed short films. Coroner to the Stars is his feature directorial debut.

Keita Ideno is an Emmy-nominated film and TV editor / writer, currently based in Los Angeles. Keita's journey in filmmaking is a testament to his international background and exceptional talent. Born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, he embarked on a unique path that took him to various corners of the world. His high school years in Singapore and eventual move to the United States in 1994 laid the foundation for a diverse and rich cinematic perspective. Keita first gained recognition during his studies at San Diego State University, where he edited a short film which caught the attention of Steven Spielberg's longtime producer, Kathleen Kennedy, and premiered at the prestigious Directors Guild of America. This early success propelled him into a career that would see him contributing to noteworthy projects. His career took flight as part of the production team for Takashi Miike's "The Hazard City." Notably, two films on which he served as an assistant editor, Gaspar Noe's “Enter the Void” and Isabel Coixet’s “Map of the Sounds of Tokyo,” were nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and 2008. In 2018, Keita showcased his talent as a co-writer and editor for "Kusama: Infinity," a documentary selected for the U.S. Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival and later released worldwide. In 2021, Keita edited the GAGA’s Japanese narrative feature film, “A Mother’s Touch” (Starring Koyuki and Lily Franky) and was critically acclaimed internationally. Keita’s excellence in editing was further recognized when he received a nomination for Outstanding Single Camera Editing at the 49th Emmy Awards in 2022 for his work on the "Copy Cat" episode of the Netflix original series "Cat People." That same year, he joined the HBO Max original series "Tokyo Vice" as an assistant editor on the pilot directed by Michael Mann. Keita’s latest work, "AUM: The Cult at the End of the World” is his second Sundance Film Festival nomination in the US Documentary Competition in 2023 and will be released in theaters in the US in 2025.

Billy Ray Brewton is the producer and founder of Make Believe Theatricals, which specializes in promoting unique creative voices that exist outside the mainstream. Billy Ray was the subject of the award-winning documentary, SKANKS (Slamdance, 2014); wrote and directed the award-winning dramatic horror film, SHOW YOURSELF (Bruce Campbell’s Horror Film Fest, 2017); produced the award-winning documentary, SOCKS ON FIRE (Tribeca, 2020, “Best Documentary Feature”); and served as associate producer on the horror anthology, THE MORTUARY COLLECTION (Fantastic Fest, 2019, “Audience Choice Best Feature”). The short film he produced in 2016, POOL SHARK, currently has over 100-million views on YouTube. His next project as a producer, MENTAL HEALTH AND HORROR, is scheduled for release in 2025. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, IDA, and Documentary Producers Alliance.

John Henry Hinkel is a producer and co-founder of Liaison Pictures, a boutique film production and finance company that champions auteur filmmakers across all genres. The company has produced two award-winning documentaries, SHOTPLAYER (SXSW 2024) and THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT (Dances With Films 2024), and has numerous other projects in development. Prior to co-founding Liaison Pictures, Hinkel produced AUGGIE (Cinequest 2019) and associate-produced REGGIE (Amazon Studios), THEY CALL ME MAGIC (Apple TV+), and THE PLAYBOOK (Netflix). He is a member of the PGA and the Documentary Producers Alliance.

Tommy Andres is an award-winning journalist with nearly two decades of experience at national outlets as a reporter, producer, project manager and host. Through his company Airloom Media, he is the creator and executive producer of “KING SLIME: The Prosecution of Young Thug and YSL,” which was nominated for Best Documentary Podcast at the 2024 Podcast Academy Awards, and was selected as the Best New Podcast of 2024 by Atlanta Magazine. Tommy is also the creator and executive producer of “THIRD SQUAD: After Afghanistan,” which won an Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Documentary Podcast, a New York Festivals Radio Gold Award, and was a finalist for the National Magazine Awards Podcast of the Year. Tommy was as the executive producer of and a reporter on “SPORTS EXPLAINS THE WORLD,” a 45-episode anthology podcast from Meadowlark, Campside Media and Wondery that was a runner up for Podcast of the Year at the Sports Podcast Awards, and a New York Festivals Radio Gold winner. He is also the EP and co-writer of the investigative docuseries “WE CAME TO THE FOREST” from Campside, Wondery and Tenderfoot, which releases January 27, 2025. Tommy was a Senior Producer for the national public radio program Marketplace before being selected as a Knight-Wallace journalism fellow in 2019. He was also the host of CNN’s first daily news podcast and has done work for Frontline, PBS NewsHour, The Atlantic, Quartz, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Times, and This American Life. Tommy met Dr. Thomas Noguchi in 2011 and recorded the interviews that serve as the backbone of CORONER TO THE STARS.

Michael McNamara is the owner and CEO of Strangely Compelling Multimedia, which has helped bring some of the most amazing entertainment content from Japan to the eyes of millions around the world, from the "Godzilla Minus One" Oscar Campaign, to the most recent projects of Final Fantasy creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, through on-point localization and strategic positioning of film, anime and video game collaborations.

Chiaki Yanagimoto is a Japanese-born, Los Angeles-based producer, director, and founder of SYNEPIC Entertainment. Her first produced feature, SAMURAI AVENGER: THE BLIND WOLF (2009), became a cult hit, launching her career with a series of festival-favorite genre films. She then shifted gears to produce documentary features, including KAMPAI! FOR THE LOVE OF SAKE (2015) and KAMPAI! SAKE SISTERS (2019), with the first premiering at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and distributed by IFC Films/Sundance Selects in the US. In 2023, Chiaki made her directorial debut with AUM: THE CULT AT THE END OF THE WORLD, which premiered in the US Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. She began her career working for legendary producer, Taka Ichise [Ring, The Grudge], and is currently producing a slate of international documentaries and scripted films. She founded SYNEPIC Entertainment in 2017, and as a unique multicultural creative force, her work in the industry extends well beyond producing. In 2022, SYNEPIC launched SAKKA, a film distribution service dedicated to bringing Japanese independent cinema to global audiences and supporting Japanese filmmakers on the world stage.

THE EBERSOLE HUGHES COMPANY is a unique creative collaboration from the husband/husband team P David Ebersole & Todd Hughes, each an accomplished writer, director, producer and author. Producing and writing credits include work with HBO, Showtime, IFC and VH1, as well as live events like the Silver Lake Film Festival. The duo’s directing credits include Fox Television, Sundance Channel, Lifetime, indie features, shorts, and music videos. Their films have premiered at every major film festival including Cannes, Venice, Sundance, SXSW and New Directors/New Films. Their feature and documentary work has been honored by numerous awards, nominations and distinctions, at the Independent Spirit Awards, the IDA Awards, the WIN Awards, and the CineFashion Film Awards, among others, as well as many internationally acclaimed film festivals; and they have received grants and support from a variety of venerable arts and entertainment institutions including Los Angeles Cultural Affairs, the MacDowell Colony, and the American Film Institute. Working with world class celebrities and notable personalities, the on-screen talent in Ebersole Hughes productions includes everyone from music giants like Alice Cooper, Courtney Love and Dionne Warwick, to show business icons like Cher, Tippi Hedren, John Waters and Sharon Stone, as well as legends of fashion and design like Pierre Cardin, Naomi Cambell, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Philippe Starck. Their stylish and provocative work has been called “hugely entertaining” (Screen Daily), “wondrous and delirious” (Screen Anarchy),  and “strikingly modern… featuring mouth agape moments” (Hollywood Reporter). Dubbed “renaissance men” (Palm Springs Life) and tapped as LGBTQ notables in the 26th annual issue of Out 100 in 2020, the duo’s current focus remains making documentaries about creative pioneers, but they have recently recorded a pop punk boy band album and they have each written their first published books, with new novels now in progress. Previous works include: HIT SO HARD (SXSW, 2011), ROOM 237 (Sundance, 2012), DEAR MOM, LOVE CHER (Lifetime, 2013), MANSFIELD 66/67 (Rotterdam, 2017), ALASKA IS A DRAG (Frameline, 2017), and HOUSE OF CARDIN (Venice, 2019).

Mondo Boys are an American composer duo boldly blending a hybrid of timeless melodies into the bleeding edge of modern day film music, hand-crafted for every project. They’ve scored projects helmed by icons Ridley Scott (PHOENIX FORGOTTEN) and Steven Soderbergh (THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE SEASON 2). They’ve worked with Disney Animation, HBO & Netflix, as well as exciting filmmakers Barry Jenkins, Andrew Jarecki, DJ Caruso, Amy Seimetz, Lake Bell, and Adele Romanski. Their score and songs have created buzz in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Spin and NME among other publications. The Boys bring decades of experience in composition, songwriting, performance & recording to every film score. Their close-knit team of distinguished arrangers, orchestrators and musicians allow for unique, world-class virtuosic performances regardless of post-production constraints. Their swift rise to prominence in the film community can be attributed in part to their passion for story, their close collaborations with filmmakers, and their ability to write lyric-and-vocal songs as well as memorable score to elevate any film.