DIRECTOR / PRODUCER
Yasmin Mistry is an Emmy-nominated animator and award-winning filmmaker. who blends these creative mediums to tell character-driven stories with an intimate lens. Her work has been displayed worldwide, including showings at the United Nations and White House as well as at SXSW, Tribeca Film Festival, DOC NYC, and more. She is the recipient of funding from the Jerome Foundation, Center of Asian American Media (CAAM), Annie E. Casey Foundation, Brooklyn Arts Council, Puffin Foundation, Riverside Sharing Fund, and Harnisch Foundation and was a finalist for funding from both the ITVS Diversity Development Fund and Jerome Hill Fellowship. Films from her documentary shorts series about foster care have been featured in over 140 film festivals and nominated for more than 80 awards. In 2018, She received the CASA Hero Award for her advocacy work, giving youth in the child welfare system an opportunity to be heard. When not making films, Yasmin works as a programmer for the Anchorage International Film Festival, a screener for the Blackbird Film Festival, and has been a co-leader for the filmmaking collaborative Docshop.
PRODUCERS
Thu is a Vietnamese American producer and filmmaker. She grew up in Westminster in Orange County, known locally as Little Saigon. She moved to Brooklyn, New York in 2013 and has been there since. Thu has produced and developed short documentaries for Vice. She created and produced a short form series called I Was There that features first person perspectives of overlooked historical events, especially those that impact marginalized groups of people. Thu is a 1st generation Vietnamese American. Her mother is a poet and her father is a writer. After seeking refuge in the U.S. after the Vietnam War, her parents became fixtures in their community’s local press and media. They both went on to publish novels of their personal work, which she hopes to translate into English someday. Growing up in this environment, Thu honed a passion for storytelling in her own way, and is deeply rooted in her Vietnamese identity.
ASHLEY DA-LÊ DUONG | STORY PRODUCER
Ashley is a Vietnamese-Canadian writer, producer, and director. Ashley specializes in stories about identity, culture, and the environment. With Catbird Productions, Ashley produced, wrote, and directed the award-winning feature documentary, A Time to Swim. The film was broadcasted on Al Jazeera Witness, and Super Channel. Ashley has produced and edited over 15 short documentaries for CBC ARTS. An advocate for advancing ethical documentary practices, Ashley is a member of Brown Girl Doc Mafia, A-Doc, and BIPOC TV & Film and a mentor for Being Black in Montreal, Unsung Voices, and BGDM Skillshare. She was selected for the Corus Showrunner Apprentice Program, the Hot Docs Diverse Voices Program, the CBC Development Program for Diverse Creators, was awarded Quebec’s 2021 artist laureate to Vietnam to develop her latest feature.
JIN YOO-KIM | CONSULTING PRODUCER
JIN is a Bolivian-born Korean American filmmaker who directed for Take Out with Lisa Ling and is in development for her docuseries Cult Foods. She produced Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust and co-produced A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s
Cheerleader Problem and K-Town ‘92. Jin impact produced for Try Harder! and Waking Dream. She is an impact mentor for A-DOC and the West Coast South board member for the Documentary Producers Alliance. Jin is a fellow of Women at Sundance x Adobe, Sundance Creative Producers, Film Independent X CNN Docuseries, Film Independent Doc Lab, and Firelight Media Impact Producers.
CINEMATOGRAPHERS
Tim is an award-winning cinematographer and photographer based in Vietnam. His documentary credits include Dog Meat Mafia, Return to Vietnam: The Boys of ‘67, and Return to Vietnam: Breaking the Silence. Commercial and editorial clients include Nike, Forbes, Novartis, Everlane, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Traveler, Getty Images, The Guardian, BBC and CNN.
HANNAH ENGELSON | CINEMATOGRAPHER (US)
Hannah is a cinematographer and documentary filmmaker. With a background in photojournalism, she specializes in capturing compelling moments using a cinéma vérité approach. Her work has appeared on platforms including Short of the Week, NBC Universal, VICE News Tonight, Business Insider, The World Channel, American Masters and for clients including Capitol Records, UberEats, The Empire State Building, Committee to Protect Journalists and United Airlines. She most recently filmed behind the scenes documentary footage of Noah Baumbach’s Netflix Original Film, White Noise.
EDITORS
Dhevi Natarajan is an emerging filmmaker and media creator. She was producer, director, cinematographer and editor on her first short film, a captivating visual exploration of the revered Nataraja temple in her ancestral town of Chidambaram, India. Her international production experience in Israel, Palestine, Thailand, Haiti, Peru and Ghana, documenting critical social issues, further inspired her to pursue a career in impact storytelling.
One of her notable works includes Meet the Patels (ITVS/PBS), which received an Emmy nomination and was executive produced by Academy Award winners Geralyn Dreyfous and Dan Cogan. She worked closely with Sundance and Tribeca filmmaker Geeta V. Patel on Femi (ITVS) and Meet the Patels as an editor and associate producer. Additionally, she showcased her verite and character-driven editorial skills on the feature documentary Sanctuary’s Daughter and worked on mini-series for The Scripps Network and The Food Network, produced by Leanna Creel and Mason Funk. She also collaborated with director Maureen Flannigan and Pulse Films on a true crime series investigating the McMartin Preschool Sex Abuse Trial in the 1980s.
She continues to create award-winning content with Creel Studio as Lead Editor. Embracing the ever-evolving landscape of media and technology, VR/immersive storytelling is also on her radar. She has teamed up with award-winning producer Janet Eckholm (Meet the Patels, American Splendor), to explore the realms of virtual reality and create a transformative meditation experience.
DAN SADOWSKY | CONSULTING EDITOR
Dan has practiced the craft of non-fiction narrative storytelling for a variety of media for more than two decades. Since 2013, he’s been editing documentary films and producing videos for progressive campaigns and causes in the Pacific Northwest. His recent editing credits include Hunger Ward, nominated for the 2021 Academy Award in the category of Best Documentary Short; the Oscar-nominated short documentary Lifeboat (2019); and the feature-length Behind The Bullet, which premiered in 2019 at Slamdance and won “Best Of” awards at several festivals. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
ARTISTS
Noure is an illustrator and animator. Her work on the animated documentary For A Better Life garnered seven nominations for Best Animation.
MAI- HAN NGUYEN | ILLUSTRATOR
Mai-Han Nguyen is a Visual Development artist, with experience in Background Painting. After graduating from Boston University, she briefly interned as a Printmaking Gallery Assistant and Graphic Designer before finding her interest in Animation. Mai-Han worked on a short 2D (Tra-digital) film with CTN (Creative Talent Network), directed by James Lopez, working on both Visual Development and Background Design/Paint. The short film premiered at CTNExpo. Mai-Han also freelances as a Visual Development artist.
CONOR DONAHUE | ANIMATOR
Conor Donahue is an LA based animator, illustrator and writer. When he isn’t endeavoring to make drawings and shapes move properly, you might find him running long distances, climbing great heights, or reading novels quite slowly.
ADVISORS
JEFF CONSIGLIO | ADVISOR
Jeff Consiglio is an LA-based film director, producer and editor with a focus on character-driven nonfiction film. Jeff’s documentary work has earned one Academy Award win (Inocente) and a second Academy Award nomination (Wardance), multiple Emmys, a Peabody and awards from many film festivals including a Special Jury Award for Documentary Editing from SXSW. His music video editing work has earned multiple nominations and one Grammy, and his producing/directing work has earned top awards from national and international festivals. Jeff also creates film and digital art, and presents seminars and guest lectures on the art of honest storytelling.
SAMANTHA | ADVISOR
Samantha Futerman is a Korean-American director, producer and actor. She was born in South Korea and adopted by an American family in New Jersey. In 2013, Samantha was reunited with the identical twin sister she never knew she had, who was adopted to and raised in Paris, France. Her directorial debut, the documentary Twinsters premiered at SXSW 2015 in the documentary competition category and received a special jury recognition for editing. Samantha continues to pursue all realms of the entertainment industry and continues to raise awareness for the greater adoption community. Currently, her favorite things are surfing, pizza and BTS.
AMANDA DE JESUS, Ph.D., LCSW-R | SOCIAL WORKER
Dr. Amanda de Jesús received her master’s in social work from Hunter College and her PhD in social work from Fordham University. Since 2012, she has served as an advisor for the Foster Care Film and Community Engagement Project. Prior to her current role at Brooklyn College, she worked as a therapist for several years in community health centers and has experience with a wide range of populations. She currently maintains a private practice. Her research and clinical interests include immigrants and refugees, trauma, mental health, and foster care. She is an adjunct professor at the Fordham Graduate School of Social Service and is on the faculty at the Metropolitan Institute for Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. She is currently working on a qualitative study about former foster youths’ experiences.