ManSee Kong creates films and videos inspired by communities organizing for social change. Her work has screened at Museum of Modern Art, Museum of the City of NY, Glasgow Women’s Library, film festivals, universities, and community spaces, with support from the Jerome Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, BRICarts, Camargo Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Spike Lee Production Fund, and Asian Women Giving Circle. She co-founded Chinatown Art Brigade with Tomie Arai and Betty Yu, a cultural collective that uses art to support community-led campaigns for social justice. ManSee is a Third World Newsreel Production Workshop alum with an MFA in Film from NYU.

When a 19-year-old American soldier is found dead in a U.S. Army base in Afghanistan after relentless racist hazing by his supervisors, community leaders in New York’s Chinatown mobilize and embark on a multiyear journey to demand justice for Private Danny Chen and his family. What Happened to Danny is a feature-length documentary about a family’s strength, the legacy of discrimination in the U.S. and its military, and the healing potential of grassroots community organizing.

Photo Credit: Corinne Manabat

Ash Goh Hua is a New York-based, Singapore-born and raised filmmaker. They tell political stories personally through experimental leaning documentaries, challenging dominant ideologies in order to imagine possibilities of other worlds. Named one of the 25 New Faces of Film by Filmmaker Magazine in 2022, Ash has been supported by programs and fellowships from institutions like Sundance, ITVS, Jacob Burns Creative Culture, Jerome Foundation, and NYFA. Ash is an active member of the Asian American Documentary Network, Brown Girls Doc Mafia and the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective. Their 2020 film I’m Free Now, You Are Free (distributed by PBS POV Shorts) screened and won awards at film festivals internationally, including Sheffield DocFest, BlackStar Film Festival, Camden International Film Festival, Big Sky Documentary, and Ann Arbor Film Festival. Ash's 2022 film is the Oscar®-qualifying The Feeling of Being Close to You (distributed by The New Yorker), which won Best Documentary Short Award at the New Orleans Film Festival and screened at Palm Springs International Film Festival, Singapore International Film Festival, and True/False, among others.

Full Month is a short narrative film about Jing, the black sheep of her family, who returns home to Singapore following the birth of her nephew after almost a decade away. At the baby's full month celebration, she is forced to confront her contentious relationship with her estranged mother and a traditional family politic—the causes of her departure a decade prior.

Photo Credit: Kristie Chua

Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma is a short film director and animator from and based out of New York. Her body of work largely deals with the interplay of digital and traditional mediums and textures, while exploring themes of femininity, familial dynamics, and our relationships to the natural world. Much of her film work falls under the genre of Folk Horror, with an emphasis on rural settings and the isolation and beauty within them. Pilar is a Student Academy Award Gold medalist for her film Ciervo and a Glas Animation Grant recipient for her film Colony. Her films have been shown in Oscar-qualifying festivals such as Slamdance, Cinanima, RIIFF, Annecy, Animafest Zagreb, Animest, and the Brooklyn Film Festival. She has also worked on a variety of projects that have gone on to premiere at Tribeca, win Emmys, and be shown at other prominent festivals like SXSW and the Ottawa International Animation Festival.

Pajarito is an animated short film set in Spain in the late 1980s, around the time Spain became officially part of the European Union and abortion became legal. It’s an experimental narrative utilizing a mixture of soft and dreamy guache-painted animation and digital techniques, and explores two sisters as their family dynamics change when one of them has a baby. Pajarito uses the metaphor of Cuckoo birds invading other birds' nests juxtaposed with the main storyline to explore the lines between mother and mothered and family dynamics concerning neglect and the inability to bond with your own family. Like baby birds, eventually, we must fend for our own survival.

Caitlyn Greene is a filmmaker from the American South who splits her time between Brooklyn and New Orleans. She received a Primetime Emmy and an ACE Eddie Award for her editing on “The Jinx,” HBO’s Peabody Award-winning documentary series. Her recent documentary short The Diamond was acquired by The New Yorker after premiering at the Camden International Film Festival, where it won CIFF’s Vimeo Staff Pick Award. Her previous short films have screened at festivals around the world and taken home several jury awards along with a Vimeo Staff Picks' Best of the Year. Other editing projects include the vérité documentary feature When Lambs Become Lions, for which Caitlyn was awarded Best Editing at the Tribeca Festival and nominated for an IDA Documentary Award, as well as FX’s documentary series A Wilderness of Error, from Marc Smerling (“The Jinx”) and Errol Morris.

The River (working title), Caitlyn’s feature directorial debut, is a character-driven documentary feature in Louisiana about the Mississippi River and the control of nature.

Karina Dandashi is a multicultural Arab-American Muslim filmmaker born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. Her films explore nuances in identity through the intersection of family, religion, and culture in Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) and Muslim communities in America. Her work has been featured in numerous Oscar-Qualifying festivals around the U.S. and recently screened at The Museum of Modern Art. Karina is a 2020 Creative Culture Fellow at The Jacob Burns Film Center and a 2021 Sundance Ignite Fellow. She was featured in Marie Claire’s inaugural Creators Issue as one of the “Top 21 Creators to Watch"" in 2022. Her feature film debut, Out of Water, was chosen for the 2023 Film Independent Screenwriting Lab.

Out of Water is a feature-length film about a young woman coming of age in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a Syrian-born Muslim father and an American mother. While trying to pass her driver's license test, ignore feelings for her best friend, make it through Ramadan, and pick the perfect dress for her Twilight-themed junior prom, Sama’s days are packed. She often finds solace by escaping reality through pop-culture fueled daydreams. When Sama’s grandpa arrives from Syria, her relationships with her family members and her identities, including her sexuality, are put to the test. Sama attempts to answer the question: what does it mean to belong somewhere? And why am I being haunted by a life-sized Daniel Tiger puppet?

Photo by Lynda Shenkman

Mohammed Sheikh’s filmmaking journey began unexpectedly in the Kebribeyah refugee camp in Eastern Ethiopia. There, his mother’s storytelling and audio tapes kindled a passion for storytelling and film. Today, Mohammed is a self-taught filmmaker focusing on Somali narratives. Works like The Forgotten Ones and Luul shed light on vital issues and have gained recognition on platforms like CBS, Sahan Journal, and MPR News. Mohammed’s creative wellspring draws deeply from his environment, and he has forged a robust reputation within his community and become a voice that resonates with our shared values and culture, earning the trust of both my community and colleagues. Mohammed’s mission is to authentically represent the Somali community in the Twin Cities through storytelling and filmmaking, filling the void for accurate and positive portrayals.

Balwo is a short film that explores the generational divide and the pursuit of dreams within a Somali immigrant family living in Minneapolis. The story revolves around Sinimo, a talented musician who yearns to pursue his passion for music, much to the disappointment of his father, Aabo, who values practicality over artistic aspirations. Balwo thoughtfully examines the intricate themes of cultural identity, generational disparities, and the relentless pursuit of personal aspirations. It underscores the profound transformative power of art in fostering unity within a family. Sinimo’s fervent dedication to music often clashes with his father’s expectations of a more conventional and stable life.

Atlas O Phoenix, using they/them/theirs pronouns, is a highly acclaimed director, writer, producer, and editor known for creating impactful and dynamic films that explore both the shadowy and uplifting aspects of humanity, whether through fictional narratives or visual personal essay-styled documentaries. Atlas is forging a path as they explore their intersectional identities with an interest in breaking down invisible barriers. Furthermore, they have also showcased their talents as an actor and performer in esteemed productions such as “Dykes Do Drag” (2017-2020) and “The Naked I” series (2018/2020).

Beautiful Boi is a poignant and evocative documentary, a mesmerizing fusion of reality and imagination, that responds to the questions, “What happens when you have the strength to liberate yourself from the suffocating grip of imposter syndrome, shed the burdensome weight of labels and preconceived notions, and embark on a journey of self-discovery through various therapeutic avenues? What happens when you find the courage to pick up the shattered pieces of your heart after losing the one you loved most, all while grappling with the darkness of your own mind, the darkness that pushed you to the edge nine times before? And what happens when, against all odds, you muster the bravery to embrace your true self and embark on a remarkable transformation at the age of fifty, defying societal expectations and norms?”

Photo: Atlas O Phoenix

Yeej Moua is a multi-hyphenate artist and Fine Arts educator based in Minnesota. He graduated from the University of Montana with a BFA in Media Arts, emphasis in Digital filmmaking and a minor in Theater. Yeej has written and directed two short films, Cotton Candy, an official selection at 2017 Qhia Dab Neeg Film Festival in St. Paul and The Wind Always Strikes the Highest Mountain, a project funded through Northern Lights MN, Northern Spark Festival 2021. Along with directing, Yeej has worked on numerous projects as a Production Designer. He finds inspiration through the aesthetics of the world and hopes to continue inspiring others on the wonders of storytelling from the lens of a Hmong American Artist.

Pink Drink is an auto-fictional comedic short film. It follows Wynn, a thirty-year-old Hmong man as he attends a cultural gathering for his “more successful” cousin. This leads to a confrontation that involves familial expectations, six pack abs, and a whole lot of Pink Drink.

Adam Loomis [he/him] is a self-taught animator, educator, and film programmer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After completing a Bachelor of Arts in Studies in Cinema and Media Culture in 2011 at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, he began developing a practice in animation. Since 2015, he has screened his short, animated films at numerous local events and animation festivals around the globe. Adam further expresses his commitment to promoting and advocating for independent animation as adjunct faculty in the animation department at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, as Co-Director of MinnAnimate (a festival that celebrates Minnesota-made animation), as well as in past roles with Hellavision Television Animation Show, Walker Art Center, Trylon Cinema, and Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.

Jasmine is an animated short film about a man named Abel, whose one joy in life is laying eyes on his pet lizard. When the lights in Jasmine’s enclosure go out, a series of mishaps force Abel out of the darkness.