Madiha Tahir. I am an independent journalist who has followed the issue of drone attacks on Pakistan for quite some time. I have reported for PRI/BBC’s “The World”, Foreign Affairs, Democracy Now!, The Wall Street Journal, Caravan, The National, Global Post, The New Inquiry, Left Turn and The Columbia Journalism Review, among others. I’ve also co-edited a volume of essays Dispatches from Pakistan with Vijay Prashad and Qalandar Bux Memon. I am currently a doctoral student at Columbia University. Twitter: @Madi_Hatter
Messiah Rhodes. I am an independent documentary filmmaker, video editor and multimedia production fellow at Democracy Now!. I focus on progressive projects. I have produced videos for Bloombergville and Occupy Wall Street which were featured on MoveOn and Huffington Post. He has also produced a documentary on the lockout of union workers at Sotheby’s Auction House (Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Museums), and the anti-foreclosure sit-ins (Occupy Our Homes) where homeowners refused to leave their homes. Twitter: @rhodesmessiah
AJ Russo. I am a video editor and motion graphics artist with over 15 years in the industry. My last project was American Autumn, a feature-length documentary about the Occupy movement with director Dennis Trainor, Jr that I associate produced and co-edited. In the last several years, my focus has been on documentary film projects and post-production support for indie filmmakers. Twitter: @ajrsuper8
Shaista Husain. I am a documentary filmmaker and screenwriter from Pakistan, Hong Kong and Khartoum. I have worked collaboratively on various Occupy documentaries, and am currently working on a screenplay based in Pakistan.
Andre´ Barros. I am a pianist and composer from Portugal, focusing on instrumental minimalistic and classical-contemporary music. My work has been featured in several short-films and videos. I am currently working on Ruins, an Icelandic motion picture. I graduated from ETIC (Escola Técnica de Imagem e Comunicação) in Lisbon and worked as a sound engineer at the well-known Sigur Rós made studio, Sundlaugin in Álafoss, Iceland.
Zaland Khan Mohammadzai. I have been playing music since the age of six. I’ve played with a lot of Afghan professional musicians. I’ve also had the honor of being invited to China and playing for one of the Chinese governors, as well as the Pakistani ambassador to China. I’ve also played with musicians of the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, such as the noted tabla player, Ustad Ajmal Khan. I enjoy playing the rabab in particular, an instrument made from a single piece of wood from a mulberry tree and goatskin. Through the rabab and the poetic words of Pashtun poets, like Abdullah Bahari, Ghani Khan and Rehman Baba, I believe it is possible to connect people. You can read more about me here.