Francisco Lacerda is a Portuguese American writer/director based in Azores, Portugal. He is one of the creators of the midnight screening sensation short films "Dentes e Garras!" and "Dentes e Garras 2" which were both nominated for a Méliès Award on MOTELX and were consequently acquired by Troma Entertainment for distribution. In 2017, Francisco co-wrote and co-directed with Francisco Lopes the short film "Freelancer", which proved to be a success with audiences worldwide and won Best Short Film at the 2018 Horrorvision Film Festival. In the twelfth edition of MOTELX Film Festival the term "Azoresploitation" was coined to describe Francisco's works as a unique sub-genre of Portuguese exploitation/ splatter cinema made only in the Azores Islands and by Azores filmmakers and artists. His latest short film "Karaoke Night", which had its North American premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival, has cemented the term "Azoresploitation" has an actual sub-genre of Portuguese exploitation cinema, making Francisco a pioneer of this genre.

Kayla Lane Freeman is an Austin filmmaker who loves telling stories about freaky, strange and unruly women. She has a B.S. in Radio-TV-Film from UT Austin and has worked on set, in post-production or as an impact producer for Sundance Channel, Kartemquin Films, Texas Freedom Network and indie filmmakers. Kayla has also worked with corporate clients including Buffalo Wild Wings, American Red Cross, Yum Foods, and AbbVie Pharmaceuticals as a Content Producer of educational multimedia.

Kayla is the writer/director of Plant Moms, a dark comedy short film that premiered at Fantastic Fest 2025. Plant Moms was the recipient of production and post-production grants from Austin Film Society in 2023 & 2024, respectively.

Kayla's film directorial debut, The NDE, was an official selection for the Austin Lift-Off Film Festival, Dark Comedy Film Festival, Lysistrata Comedy Festival and the ATX Short Film Showcase, where it was also screened as part of the 2023 “Best of the Year” comedy program.

Lasse Långström is a film director and artist with a punk based approach to film production. Collaborating with friends in the making of anarchist musicals and awareness raising homoeroticism.