Bio
Mahyad is the co-founder and Executive Director of BooMGen Studios and independent filmmaker living in New York. Considered an indie maverick, Mahyad’s experience spans from socially driven educational documentaries to theatrical features. He has amassed professional credits as editor, writer, cinematographer, director and producer, and has worked in 24 countries spanning five continents. Most recently he produced the narrative feature, Looking for Palladin with the international ensemble including Ben Gazzara, David Moscow, two-time Oscar nominee Talia Shire, Vincent Pastore, and Pedro Armendariz. Palladin was the first feature to be produced entirely in Guatemala since 1938, and kick-started the Guatemalan film industry. Mahyad has worked on a number of award-winning theatrical and broadcast documentaries, most notably, Some Assembly Required as part of the First Amendment Documentary Series for the Sundance Channel and Court TV, Farewell To My Country, and most recently Blindsight—winner at over twenty international film festivals including AFI and Berlin.
Tousi, who studied filmmaking at NYU, is a regular lecturer for the MFA program at City College of New York, and has appeared numerous times as a speaker and panelist on social innovation through media.