Mediamaker Fellows

Yeelen is a non-binary Filmmaker, Actor, Writer, Producer and Theatre Artist based in Brooklyn. Born in Paris, France, and raised in Jacmel(Haiti), New York, Miami and the Bay Area, their multicultural upbringing deeply influences their artistic practice and view of the world. Yeelen’s work, often rooted in the personal, unfolds into larger conversations about identity, history, space, diaspora and technology. They co-founded and curated the Afrofuturism Film Festival in 2016, Assistant Directed the Haitian magical-neorealist feature Ayiti Mon Amour, and recently starred in Random Acts of Flyness on HBO. They won the mention prize award for Best Pitch at the [...]

Silvia Del Carmen Castaños is an activist, poet, and filmmaker born and raised in Laredo, TX. Their activism and art are both grounded in community, justice, and self-determination. Silvia’s short film Ocean, a visual poem depicting a queer love story of a trans man and a cis woman, won a jury prize for documentary at the Laredo International Media & Film Festival in 2018. Silvia’s debut feature, Hummingbirds, is a uniquely collaborative autobiographical documentary directed by them and Estefanía Contreras about a summer in their lives coming of age on the Texas-Mexico border. Silvia has represented the Hummingbirds team at [...]

Naveen Chaubal is a Louisville based director, producer, and cinematographer. His work aims to reveal what immigrant suburbia can tell us about this country. He’s a fellow of Film Independent's Project: Involve and Fast Track programs. His short film “Pinball” screened at the DGA,  Montana International Film Festival, KC Film Fest, Speed Art Museum and premiered online on NoBudge, where it won Audience Choice. He co-produced and co-shot Tomorrow We Disappear, a feature documentary that premiered at Tribeca, where it was named “Best of the Fest” by the Wall Street Journal. It also screened at Hot Docs and CPH:DOX. Naveen [...]

Luis Gutiérrez Arias makes films that explore notions of homeland and territory through human relationship to landscape, collective memory and myth making. His work has been shown at Sundance, DOK Leipzig, Full Frame, Images, Message to Man, Morelia, AFI Docs and Ambulante, among others. His short documentary, It's Going to be Beautiful (2018), received an award for best cinematography at the Tacoma Film Festival and was curated by The Atlantic Select series. He was a fellow during the 2019 Doc’s Kingdom seminar and was part of the Berlinale Talents Guadalajara 2015. He is co-founder of Bahia Colectiva, a community of [...]

Liz Roberts makes artwork that is often collaborative and rooted in moving image and sound. Her work has shown widely, and her 16mm films have screened with Ann Arbor Film Festival, Microscope Gallery, Film-makers’ Cooperative, New York Exposition of Short Film & Video, and Chicago International Film Festival. Roberts is a high school dropout who earned a BA and an MFA. After grad school she held teaching positions in higher education while simultaneously being in an anarchist art collective. She is part of The Infernal Grove, an artist group focusing on those who have a lived history of substance use [...]

Kevin Truong is a documentary filmmaker, photographer and journalist. He first received recognition for his work with The Gay Men Project, a photo project in which he has documented the lives of gay and queer men across 37 countries. As a journalist, he has worked for NBC Digital at NBC News, Motherboard Tech by VICE,  and Student Reporting Labs at PBS NewsHour. His work often explores the LGBTQ and Asian American experiences. Kevin is currently working on his first feature length film, a personal documentary about his mother and her experiences with the War in Vietnam. Although this is Kevin’s [...]

Jason Fitzroy Jeffers is a filmmaker from Barbados whose work focuses on giving rooted and nuanced voice to the Caribbean, pockets of subtropical Black life across the American South, and other marginalized, equatorial, Afro-diasporic spaces. As a filmmaker, he has produced award-winning shorts such as "Papa Machete" and "Swimming in Your Skin Again" that have screened at film festivals such as Sundance, BlackStar, TIFF, Sheffield and more. More recently, he co-directed the short film "Drowning by Sunrise" for The Intercept, and produced "T", the 2020 winner of the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at Berlinale. Prior to this, Jeffers [...]

Gabriela Díaz Arp is a documentary producer and director who is passionate about re-imagining the documentary space through hybrid, immersive and participatory filmmaking. She has produced films and interactive experiences for news organizations, non-profits, cultural spaces and commercial clients. Some of her clients include New York Times, CNN International, Univision, International Rescue Committee, the United Nations and The New Museum. Her most recent virtual reality film, Meeting a Monster, exploring the memories and motivations of former white supremacist Angela King, premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and Cannes and over 20+ film festivals around the world.   Matininó Thirty [...]

Ameha Molla is a creative and marketing professional with experience across production, advertising and brand strategy. Ameha directed six short films while working in marketing at Genentech, a biotechnology company. In this role, Ameha led the creative and production teams for an award-winning brand agency, developing and producing content focused on the stories of patients with cancer. Ameha was responsible for creating story concepts, directing animation and motion graphics teams, and managing on set cast and crew. In February 2020, Ameha joined Apple’s marketing team where he works to create content for one of the world’s most respected brands. Ameha [...]

Zack Khalil is a filmmaker and artist from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, currently based in Brooklyn, NY.  His work centers indigenous narratives in the present—and looks towards the future—through the use of innovative nonfiction forms. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Lincoln Center, Walker Arts Center, New York Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival among other institutions.  Khalil is the recipient of various fellowships and grants, including the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, Sundance Art of Nonfiction Grant, and Gates Millennium Scholarship. Khalil received his BA from Bard College.     [...]