Fellow Profiles

Learn more about our fellows through Film Independent's online fellow profiles. Through the fellow profiles, you can find up-and-coming directors, writers, producers, and cinematographers.

Shawna Baca

Shawna Baca comes from a diverse background that has given her a sense of storytelling from different perspectives. She has worked with America Ferrera, Tippi Hedren, Reginald Val Johnson, Cassandra Peterson, David L. Lander, and Maria Costa to name a few. She was one of 50 directors chosen by Steven Spielberg for Fox's show, On the Lot. She is an active member in the Latino and Native American entertainment community.
Ramin Bahrani

Born and raised in America, Ramin Bahrani received his BA from Columbia University in New York City before moving to his parents` homeland of Iran for three years where he made his student thesis film, Strangers (2000). Bahrani then lived in Paris before returning to the states to begin work on his first feature film, Man Push Cart (2005). The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival (2005) and screened at The Sundance Film Festival (2006) before being released theatrically world-wide to critical acclaim.
Gert Basson

Before moving to Los Angeles, Gert Basson successfully managed the film and TV division of a national public company M&M Ltd., based in Johannesburg, South Africa. After starting his own production company, Rings of Stone Productions, Basson executive produced The Fourth Reich, which at the time was the most ambitious local feature film ever undertaken in the country in terms of budget and scope. The award-winning film (nominated for fourteen Vita Awards and recipient of four) is regarded as a milestone by South African film critics.
David Baxter

Producer/Writer David Baxter began his film career as an assistant to Academy Award winning documentary director, Errol Morris. Baxter earned his master`s degree from UCLA`s Producer`s Program and produced his first feature film, Shooting Lily that won the 1996 SXSW Film Festival.
Tenolian Bell

Tenolian Bell was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia where he majored in Mass Communication with an emphasis in filmmaking. He later moved to New York City and attended The City College of New York gaining his Master of Fine Arts in 2001. He now works bi-coastally between New York and Los Angeles shooting independent films, music videos, and documentaries.
Anthony Buncio

Anthony Buncio was recognized as a California Arts Scholar in film/video by former California Governor Pete Wilson and received the prestigious Governor`s Golden Medallion at Paramount Pictures -- all at the tender age of 12. He later received the Telly Award for his short One Day At A Time and the Special Jury Award, Platinum Remi, Best Director, and Best Movie Drama for Disposable. Buncio currently works as a television editor for various network shows and is in development on international projects that will widen his horizons as a director beyond the borders of the United States
Fernanda Cardoso

Fernanda Cardoso hails from Brazil where she graduated from the prestigious University of Sao Paulo with a degree in Film. She later attended the University of Miami where she was a recipient of the Ila Rosenbaum Screenwriting Scholarship, eventually graduating from University of Southern California film school. Since graduating, Cardoso has worked as a television editor and producer, accumulating more than 25 shows to her credit, including America`s Next Top Model, Blind Date, Amazing Race, and Entertainment Tonight.
Monique Caulfield

Monique Caulfield comes to Basmati Blues with 8 years of experience in the creative development of scripts. An entrepreneur, she is the founder of a manufacturing and marketing firm dedicated to socially and environmentally sustainable products. Starting with $5,000 in seed money, she established distribution in nine countries and manufacturing facilities on three continents. Caulfield sold the company and now focuses on producing films. Caulfield is the recipient of Film Independent`s first annual Sloan Producers Grant.
Justin Calen Chiang

Justin Calen Chiang studied illustration at the Art Center College of Design, but ventured into filmmaking after deciding paintings couldn`t capture what films could. Chiang wrote, directed, shot, edited, sound-mixed, and acted in his debut film, completely self-financed by selling all that he owned, including his precious vintage toy collection. The result is a very personal, emotionally powerful film titled The Way Of Snow, which had its European premiere at the 2008 UK Bradford Film Festival. Chiang recently completed an intimate children`s fantasy screenplay he plans to direct.
Tze Chun

Tze Chun has directed 12 shorts and written nine feature screenplays since graduating from Columbia University in 2002. His recent short Windowbreaker was selected to play at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and more than 20 other high-profile festivals. His feature, You`re A Big Girl Now, a period film set in Singapore, is being produced by Jeremy Kipp-Walker of Journeyman Films (Half Nelson, Maria Full of Grace). He is also working on a feature version of Windowbreaker. Chun was recently named as Filmmaker Magazine's ''25 New Faces of Independent Film.''