Cadence and Conversation

Amy Scott is a filmmaker passionate about capturing human stories that spotlight artists, musicians, and underdogs. Her unscripted directing credits include Hal (Sundance 2018, Oscilloscope), Sheryl (SXSW 2022, Showtime), and Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken (Tribeca 2024, Paramount+), which she co-directed. She also helmed a film for HBO’s Music Box series, set for release in Spring 2025, and has an upcoming music-centered project in production. A former creative director for MasterClass and a seasoned editor with decades of experience, Amy brings a deep understanding of storytelling to her work. Born and raised in Oklahoma, she spent formative years in Chicago before settling in Los Angeles, where she continues to craft compelling narratives.

Freya Berkhout is a Sydney-born multi-award winning composer and creative technologist based in Los Angeles. Her passion is to manifest profound, emotional, thought-provoking experiences, creating sonic worlds that span the dark and enigmatic to the delicate, exquisite and transcendental. She revels in bold, celebratory intersectional feminist and queer narratives and perspectives. Freya’s scores have been heard at festivals around the globe, including Cannes, SxSW, Warsaw, Tribeca and BFI London Film Festivals. She is a 2024 Women in Film Music Fellow and a 2025 recipient of the Reel Change Grant from New Music USA. In 2025, Freya scored queer feature Ride or Die, which will premiere in competition at Tribeca in June.

From her early days playing alongside The Elephant 6 Collective, Gnarls Barkley, and Lil Wayne, to recording with luminaries like Animal Collective, Norah Jones, and St. Vincent, Emmy-nominated composer Heather McIntosh’s musical career is rich and varied. Her impressive credits boast collaborations with directors like Craig Zobel for the films ‘Compliance,’ ‘Z for Zachariah’ and ‘One Dollar’, Riley Stearns for ‘Faults’ and ‘The Art of Self-Defense,’ Astra Taylor’s ‘Examined Life’ and ‘What is Democracy?’ and Susanna Fogel’s “Cat Person” and “Winner”. Heather’s versatility shines in her original scores for documentaries such as ‘Hal’ (exploring the life of Hal Ashby) and Rodney Ascher’s most recent film ‘Ghost Boy’. ‘Counting Crows : Have You Seen Me Lately’ is premiering at Tribeca 2025 and is Heather’s fourth collaboration with Amy Scott. Currently based in Los Angeles, she not only crafts music for media but is also co-president of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, championing diversity and excellence in the industry.

Writer/Director Josalynn Smith is a graduate of Columbia University’s Film MFA program. They’ve been recognized by Sundance, SFFILM, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Smith has just completed work on their debut feature anti-romance/thriller, Ride or Die, with Foxxhole Productions; the film will premiere at Tribeca 2025.

Mina Salib is an Egyptian composer and music producer based in London and Cairo. He contributed as an additional composer to StudioCanal’s upcoming documentary Becoming Hitchcock: The Legacy of Blackmail, set to premiere on HBO, collaborating with award-winning composer Blair Mowat. His debut feature, Light: The Tale of Day’s Family, has been selected as the opening film for the 4th edition of the prestigious Red Sea Film Festival and will also be featured in Berlinale Generation 2025. Mina is currently working on Stopped, a new documentary short produced by the Academy Award-winning UK production company Slick Films.

Sarah Goher is an Egyptian American writer and producer, born and bred in the South Bronx. She attended NYC public schools and got a scholarship to attend the prestigious Nightingale Bamford school for highschool. She double majored at NYU Tisch in film and economics.After graduating, she moved to Egypt and met her creative partner and husband, filmmaker Mohamed Diab. She produced his films, “Cairo 678” (2010),“Clash” (2016), and “Amira” (2021). In 2020, Sarah wrote and produced the Marvel series “Moon Knight,” starring Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke, and May Calamawy. Happy Birthday marks her directorial debut.

Victoria Fiore is a versatile documentary director with an intimate approach and strong cinematic sensibility. Her debut feature film Nascondino will be out in Winter 2020. Her career started as an editor for i-D and VICE on an Emmy nominated series, after which she began building her portfolio directing creative documentaries and commercial projects. She is based between London, Naples, Italy, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Shruti Kumar (she/her) is a composer, arranger, and conductor working in NY, LA, and London. In the film and TV sphere, she has a wide range of experience from scores to songs. In 2022, she began collaborating with film composer Daniel Hart (The Green Knight, A Ghost Story) on the scores for AMC’s ‘Interview With The Vampire’ series one and two, and Disney’s ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’. She scored the animated festival favorite ‘Passage’ (dir. Asavari Kumar) as well as ‘Esther In Wonderland’ (dir. Stephanie Bollag) which premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. She co-composed the score to the Alicia Keys documentary ‘Uncharted’ (dir. Beth Aala) which premiered at Tribeca 2023. Over the last two years, Shruti collaborated with the Disney Imagineering team to arrange the music for their Haunted Mansion Experience. She begins composing on a major Amazon series this year. In songwriting and production, she has collaborated with artists including Alicia Keys, Garbage, Nas, No Doubt, and Fiona Apple. She prides herself on her ability to fuse genres from orchestral to experimental electronic to pop and hip-hop.