Minhal Baig
Writer/Director of Hala, Writer on Ramy and Bojack Horseman
Meet the jurors
Suzi Yoonessi
Director of Daphne and Velma
Karen Tongson
Author of Why Karen Carpenter Matters,
USC Chair of Gender and Sexuality Studies
Wanjiru Njendu
Writer/director of Boxed
Tani Ikeda
Founder of Survivor Love Letter
River Gallo
Writer/director of Ponyboi, actor in Love, Victor
Aden Hakimi
Founder of Silver Crown
Stacy Osei-Kuffour
Emmy nominated writer for Pen15, Watchmen,
Run and The Morning Show
Kase Peña
Writer/director of Full Beat
Watch the films
We gather hundreds of applications to curate a collection of short films directed by female, non-binary and trans* identified filmmakers with a special focus on centering the voices of BIPOC directors. We collaborated with a jury of BIPOC creators to produce a special program of films featuring all BIPOC directors who identify as womxn, trans and non-binary.
While we are hosting the screening virtually this year, we hope you’ll still feel connected to our artists through their work and that you’ll reach out to them if you like what you see. Thank you!
In Full Bloom
11:00 | Fantasy, Drama
The surreal manifestation of a black hole within a woman’s home impels an agoraphobic widow to make a difficult choice.
After her husband’s death, Gloria becomes an agoraphobic hoarder, paradoxically practicing what she loves — gardening — indoors without the help of direct sunlight. She orders worms to grow a rare flower.
Though they help the flower grow, the development comes at a price when the worms create a black hole that absorbs everything she cherishes. With her home unrecognizably empty, she has no choice but to leave for the first time since her husband died and re-assimilate into society on her own terms.
Maegan Houang
Maegan Houang is a writer/director based in Los Angeles. She is currently a story editor on Shōgun (FX) and previously served as a staff writer on Season Two of Counterpart (Starz). In 2018, she received a VSCO Voices Creator Grant to direct a short film she wrote entitled In Full Bloom starring Kieu Chinh (The Joy Luck Club). The film premiered online on . Maegan has also directed music videos for artists such as Mitski, Vagabon, and Charly Bliss. Her work primarily focuses on the Asian American experience, intergenerational trauma and her experience living as a mixed-race American.
Aqua Viva
6:46 | animation
A Chinese manicurist in Miami attempts to describe feelings she doesn't have the words for.
Alexa Lim Haas
Alexa Lim Haas (b. 1989, she/they) is a Filipinx-American artist from New York City. She was selected by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2017. Her animated shorts, Glove (2016) co-directed with Bernardo Britto, and her first solo short Agua Viva (2018) both premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and were awarded with Grand Jury Prizes at SXSW. In addition to screening at film festivals worldwide she has exhibited work at MoMA, BAM, The Brooklyn Museum, and in collaboration with Planned Parenthood, the HBO show Random Acts of Flyness, and the Netflix documentary Mucho Mucho Amor. She received her BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Slurp
1:52 | animation, kids
Two brothers enter a ramen eating competition and the bowl size is not what they expected.
Anya Martin
Anya Martin is an animation student at California Institute of the Arts. She creates stories about human connection, nostalgia, and family. She is an avid movie watcher, loves cooking and making comics!
Break In
16:01 | Comedy
When Nousha accidentally texts erotic fiction to her crush, she enlists best friend Oliver to set out on a mission to delete the text.
Alyssa Lerner
Alyssa Lerner is a queer, Filipino American comedy writer and director. She was a staff writer on the series DIARY OF A FUTURE PRESIDENT on Disney Plus and is in development on her feature film directorial debut, a high school comedy titled JESSE IS A FRIEND. She’s a graduate of USC’s MFA in Writing for Film and TV, a resident in the 2019 Black List x Women in Film Feature Lab, and featured on the 2020 GLAAD List. Her directorial debut “Bubble” won Best Narrative Short at aGLIFF32 and the audience award for best short at Frameline43 Film Festival.
Seventh Grade
11:15 | Drama
Everyone is growing up except Patrice. But when a raunchy rumor threatens her best friend’s reputation, she’s forced to join the party and embrace adolescence. Coming of age. Austin Film Festival, BlackStar Film Festival.
Stefani Saintonge
A Haitian-American filmmaker and educator, in 2014 she won the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Discovery Award for her short film, Seventh Grade. In 2018, she won Best and Favorite Experimental Film at BlackStar Film Festival for her short, Fucked Like a Star. Her work, which focuses on women, youth and immigration, has screened at several festivals and institutions internationally including Hammer Museum, Brooklyn Museum, New Orleans Film Festival and Austin Film Festival. A member of New Negress Film Society, she is a recipient of the Jerome Foundation Film and Video Grant, BRIO Arts Award and served as an artist in residence with Haiti Cultural Exchange.
War Paint
16:51 | Drama
A young South L.A Black girl experiences a series of events that intersects racism and sexism during the 4th of July holiday.
Katrelle Kindred
Raised in South Los Angeles, Katrelle always found inspiration in her surrounding community. Fueled by a passion for writing, Katrelle studied film at Clark Atlanta University.
Upon completing her B.A., Katrelle taught children in underserved communities and attended USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, earning a MFA in Cinematic Arts.
In 2018, Katrelle participated in the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women. Her short “War Paint” premiered at Sundance and took home the Grand Jury Prize at the 2018 AFI film festival. In the future, Katrelle would like to continue to tell stories that focuses on global issues.
Kamaʻaina (Child of the Land)
16:47 | LGBTQIA Drama, Coming of Age
A queer sixteen-year-old girl, Mahina, must navigate life on the streets, until she eventually finds refuge at the Pu’uhonua o Wai’anae—Hawai’i’s largest organized homeless encampment.
Kimi Howl Lee
Kimi Howl Lee is a biracial writer, director and graduate of Stanford University's Film and Media Studies program, Kimi began her career as a Story Editor curating short-form content for Snapchat, Inc., before transitioning full time to screenwriting. Kimi's feature script, Mouth won the Grand Prize for Best Narrative Screenplay in the 2015 BlueCat Screenwriting Competition, and subsequently landed on the TrackingBoard's 2015 "Hit-List" of best unproduced screenplays. Kimi's award winning short films Sugar and Kamaʻāina have travelled the film festival circuit internationally, and have premiered on Nowness, The Future of Film is Female and Short of the Week, among others. Kimi was most recently staffed on the Amazon Studios + Blossom Films drama series The Expatriates, based off the NYTimes best-selling novel and Netflix's Locke and Key based on the popular graphic novel. She was also a participant in Film Independent’s 2019 Episodic Lab, and landed on the 2019 Young and Hungry list of Hollywood’s top new writers. Kimi is repped by UTA and Kaplan Perrone.
Pillars
18:04 | Drama
After seeing a boy she likes before church, Amber sneaks out to the Sunday school bathroom during the service and is given her first kiss.
Haley Anderson
Haley Elizabeth Anderson is a filmmaker, writer, and visual artist from Houston, Texas. She recently graduated from New York University's graduate film program as a dean’s fellow. With roots across the Gulf Coast and a background in playwriting and poetry, she creates work that often explores coming-of-age experiences, race, and the ever-growing class divide. She was just selected as one of Filmmaker magazine's "25 new faces of independent film 2019."
Fran This Summer
9:19
Fran This Summer is about teenage love birds, sensitive Francis and skater girlfriend Angie, as they spend the summer shacked up at home while Fran begins their transition.
Mary Evangelista
Mary Evangelista is an award-winning filmmaker who received their MFA from NYU. Mary's thesis short film, FRAN THIS SUMMER, is an LGBTQ summer love story that has screened in over 40 festivals, including the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Mary is a co-creator of WATER MELTS, a VR rom-com that premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Mary completed the Project Involve Fellowship with Film Independent where they directed the short film LA GLORIA. Mary’s debut feature film, BURNING WELL, is in development and was part of the Sundance Talent Forum 2019 and awarded a Tribeca All Access grant in 2020.
Thanksgiving
10:43 | Drama
Follows a Vietnamese mother who prepares for Thanksgiving and faces a situation she never expected when her son brings home a man.
Van B. Nguyen
Van B. Nguyen is a Texas-native, Vietnamese-American writer/director who has built a career in production as an assistant director. Her pilot, Casualties, was one of the top 20 unproduced pilots by female writers for the WeForShe 2019 WriteHer List, and most recently, she's a 2020 Film Independent Episodic Lab Fellow. Fun fact, Van's name pronounced in Vietnamese actually rhymes with "run" or "fun" but don't expect her to do either without caffeine.
Initiation
8:46 | Drama
When a college senior is reluctant to haze her freshman soccer teammates, she's bullied into becoming the worst culprit of them all.
Beth de Araújo
Beth de Araújo is a Writer and Director recently featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Her feature screenplay, Josephine, participated in the 2018 Sundance Directors Lab, Screenwriters Lab and is a recipient of the SFFILM Rainin Filmmaking Grant. Josephine is being produced by RT Features (Call Me By Your Name, The Witch) and will mark her feature directorial debut. Araújo has a BA in Sociology from The University of California Berkeley and an MFA from the American Film Institute. Her mother is Chinese-American and her father is from Brazil. She was born in San Francisco and is a dual citizen of both Brazil and the United States.
Inner Child
2:07 | Comedy
A woman attempts to connect to her inner child.
Charlene deGuzman
Charlene first garnered attention from tweeting her self-deprecating thoughts as @charstarlene and Rolling Stone named her one of the "Funniest People on Twitter Right Now." She went on to write and star in her own short films, and her most popular one, "I Forgot My Phone," has over 51 million views on YouTube and was featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Time, NPR, Good Morning America, Vice, The Today Show, and more. Her first feature film, Unlovable, a Duplass Brothers production directed by Suzi Yoonessi which she wrote and starred in with John Hawkes and Melissa Leo, premiered at SXSW in 2018 and received special jury recognition. It was picked up by MGM’s Orion Classics and released in theaters and VOD in 2018.
