Mike Wiluan had an early start watching movies, orgying on the VHS tapes that his father supplied to oil rig workers in the Java Sea. After graduating from the University of Kent’s film school in the UK, he acquired post-production house Infinite Frameworks in 2004 and transformed it into a major studio with production facilities in Indonesia's Batam and Singapore. After producing Singapore's first animated feature, Sing to the Dawn (2008), Wiluan produced the Mo Brothers' horror Macabre (2009) and action film Headshot (2016), key films in transforming Indonesia into a quality genre powerhouse. Buffalo Boys is his directorial debut.

Erik Matti is one of Asia's most ambitious filmmakers. An assistant director to Peque Gallaga, he made his debut with Scorpio Nights 2 (1999), a sequel to his mentor's erotic classic. He has made subversive horrors (Pa-siyam, Seklusyon), world-building fantasy epics (Tiktik, Exodus), gritty crime dramas (Ekis, On the Job) and costumed superhero films (Gagamboy, in-production Darna). While always audience-focused, Matti and his films are becoming more political; they have recently focused on systemic corruption and religious hypocrisy in the Philippines. BuyBust is his headiest achievement yet, spinning high-octane action tropes into a scathing commentary on the ongoing drug war.

Kongkiat Komesiri started out as a crew member on Apichatpong Weerasethakul's debut feature Mysterious Object at Noon (2000) before forging a career as one of Thailand's most in-demand screenwriters. He made his directorial debut as a co-director on gory black magic horror Art of the Devil II (2005). A frequent collaborator of Wisit Sasanatieng, he has been at the forefront of Southeast Asian genre cinema with martial arts film Muay Thai Chaiya (2007), serial killer thriller Slice (2010), underworld epic The Gangster (2012), and eastern western Khun Pan (2016). He attends NYAFF as a producer with Bongkod Bencharongkul's Sad Beauty.