Ana Serrano – CTO | CFC (Moderator)

Ana Serrano, Chief Digital Officer, Canadian Film Centre (CFC) & Founder, CFC Media Lab. Educator, producer, entrepreneur and recipient of numerous digital media, film & theatre industry awards. Frequent speaker at international media & film festivals including TEDx about the creation & business of digital entertainment.

Maryam Sabour – Immersive Technology Consultant | X Consulting |

Maryam is a strategic consultant working with emerging technology companies, with a focus on AR/VR. She believes in the power of VR to create human-wide social impact and has researched VR policy-making and legal ramifications extensively through her studies in law. Maryam is the founder of XR Portal, the XR for Good platform.

Lightning Talk: VR the Empathy Machine, So What?
Immersive technologies have the power to influence the human mind by transforming what is experienced in the digital world to nudge our behavior in the physical world. In this talk, Maryam Sabour, founder of XR Portal, the XR for Good content platform, will revisit the exhausted concept of VR as an “empathy machine” to re-frame the discussion around human behaviour. She will explore VR’s potential to enable human action as cited in leading scientific studies and existing XR experiences, shedding light not only on the potential for good, but also that for harm, control and manipulation. As a powerful tool, Maryam will offer a distinct perspective on how social good campaigns and non-profits can leverage VR to transform awareness into positive social action.

Nyla Innuksuk – Founder | Mixtape VR

Nyla Innuksuk is a producer of virtual reality and 360 content, director of 2D film, and writer for Marvel Comics. She loves dogs, hates Brendan Fraiser and will discuss Indigenous Futurisms ad nauseum if given the opportunity.

Glenn Cantave | Movers and Shakers

Glenn is an activist, performance artist and social entrepreneur who uses virtual and augmented reality to highlight the narratives of marginalized communities. He is also working on a 360 docuseries that chronicles activism in the age of Trump. His team is currently working on a campaign that advocates for the incorporation of blockchain technology in the New York City discretionary budgeting process.