Hsiao-Hsia “Charlotte” Huang

Hsiao-Hsia “Charlotte” Huang is a writer-director based in Los Angeles. Born and raised in Taiwan, she earned her B.A. in English Literature from Fu Jen Catholic University and her M.F.A. in Film Directing from Chapman University.

Her storytelling spans genres, from intimate family and coming-of-age dramas to high-stakes psychological thrillers. Her films have been selected for multiple Academy Award- and BAFTA-qualifying film festivals. Her short film Jin, exploring the experiences of a Chinese immigrant father in America, has screened at multiple Asian American film festivals and the Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Award – Youth Short Film Season in China.

Known for her distinctive visual storytelling, Charlotte brings a strong cinematic vision from script to screen. Through her work, she seeks to illuminate immigrant experiences, explore complex social issues, and amplify underrepresented voices, inspiring audiences to see everyday life from new perspectives.

Josiah Mendoza 

Josiah Mendoza is a Filipino-American filmmaker and journalist born and raised on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. A 2026 Sundance Ignite Fellow, he holds a BFA in Documentary Filmmaking and Visual Journalism from Chapman University’s Dodge College. His nonfiction work aims to interpolate the devices of narrative cinema to emulate the ephemeral texture of memory, guided throughout by a single pursuit: finding beauty in what others might dismiss as mundane. Inspired by his favorite book, Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, Josiah pursues stories through both art and reporting as a way to live through the questions that still confuse him. His films have screened at festivals across the country, including DOC NYC, the Calgary International Film Festival, and the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival. He finds it strange to be writing about himself in the third person. (I do; this is true.)

Kimberly Xiong

Kim Xiong is a writer, director, and producer born and raised in Fresno, California. The eldest daughter of Hmong refugees, she creates genre-driven stories exploring family, memory, and transformation. Drawn to mythmaking, she seeks to expand the possibilities of Southeast Asian storytelling through film.

She is currently a Senior Producer at Riot Games, where she leads creative production for major campaigns. Her narrative directorial debut, CRYBABY, is a surreal sci-fi comedy short about two sisters navigating a world where humanity has lost the ability to cry. The film has screened at LA Shorts International Film Festival, Big Apple Film Festival, DisOrient Asian American Film Festival, and Tallgrass Film Festival.

She is currently developing a supernatural coming-of-age film inspired by Hmong spiritual traditions and her family's experiences as refugees in the 1980s.

Merry May Ma 

While pursuing her UCLA Directing MFA, Merry May produced/directed/edited SOJOURNEY (2024), an intimate documentary featuring Lorinda, a domestic violence survivor turned “Artivist” who fuses comedy with faith. SOJOURNEY was a finalist for 2025 Yugo BAFTA Student Film Awards and PBS Fine Cut.

Driven to showcase science as art, she collaborated with UCLA chemical engineers on GARDENERS (@gardeners2025), exploring the beauty of mushroom music and nano-sciences. Awarded the $30K Alfred P. Sloan Grant and Panavision New Filmmaker Grant, GARDENERS screened at Film Independent Sloan Summit, LA Shorts, Reel Champions, and Naples International Film Festival. She is currently developing her debut feature, ENTANGLED BEINGS.

Dedicated to creating communities, Merry May co-founded UCLA’s inaugural AAPI film festival, API Film Night (@apifilmnight). Explore her journey at merrymayma.com

Nicole Mairose Dizon 

Nicole Mairose Dizon is a Filipina-American (Kapampangan) writer, director, producer, and third space curator. Growing up around mines in Baldwin Park, CA, her work explores strivers, class, and the overlooked through the lens of surrealism and magical realism. Her insomniac T’boli dreamweaver film “Ruya” won Best Narrative Experimental Film at Urbanworld Film Festival 2025. Dizon earned fellowships from Film Independent, the California Arts Council, Level Ground, and Deutsche Bank Frieze LA with Fifth Season and Ghetto Film School. Her NAACP Award-winning producing work screens on The New Yorker. She supported writers’ rooms on Amazon's Blade Runner 2099 and Netflix’s Trinity. Dizon shapes the live music world through her work with Goldenvoice, Insomniac, and the Future Festival & Major Events Leaders Training Program through the Coalition of Festivals and Major Events in partnership with The FAM, Goldenvoice, AEG Presents, and more. Outside of work, she loves music production, baseball, and Duolingo.

Uday Misra 

Uday Misra (He/Him) is a first-generation Maryland-born, Los Angeles-based filmmaker and former tech worker. He incorporates elements of narrative fiction, interview-based nonfiction, and sensory cinematic technique to craft experiential still and moving image works that illuminate the contemporary lived experiences of neurodivergent South Asian American children of immigrants.

He is a 2026 graduate of the CalArts MFA Film Directing Program, with a background in teaching along with work as a Writer/Director, Producer, Assistant Director, Script Supervisor, and Director’s Assistant. He recently completed his graduate thesis narrative short film "Whirl", and his previous narrative short film "Odyssey Baby" was selected to screen at the REDCAT Theatre in Los Angeles as part of a juried curation of films at the CalArts end-of-year showcase.

Uday is also a Rickshaw Film Foundation alum and is currently a Fall 2026 Artist-in-Residence at the Reef Residency, where he is developing his first feature screenplay.

Sue Ding

Sue Ding is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and visual artist based in Los Angeles. Her work explores race, gender, and diaspora through the lens of visual culture and place-based storytelling. Sue directed and edited the short documentaries The Claudia Kishi Club (SXSW ’20), Makeover Movie (IDFA ’23), and How the West Was Fun (True/False ’25). Her films can be found on Netflix, PBS, and Vimeo Staff Picks. In 2023, she was featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film”. She is a 2026 Creative Capital Awardee and Concordia Fellow.

Faroukh Virani

Faroukh Virani is an LA-based editor who works in both narrative and documentary formats, finding that one storytelling style informs the other in his work. Faroukh has recent post-production credits on ABC's "HIGH POTENTIAL" and CW's “WALKER.” He's an active member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.

Norbert Shieh

Norbert Shieh (he/him) is a Taiwanese American filmmaker and director of photography based in Los Angeles. His films span experimental and documentary work and have screened at venues including the Flaherty Seminar, New York Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Antimatter, and Jihlava International Film Festival. A Creative Capital Award recipient, Sundance/TAAF Collab Scholar, and 2022 CAAM Fellow, he was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in 2019. He also co-programs Shadow Kitchen, a Los Angeles filmmakers co-op supporting independent and experimental cinema.