Meet the 31 New Project Involve Fellows Joining Our 2025 Cohort
As we celebrate our 40th year, we continue to support filmmakers in our Artist Development Programs. Project Involve, the OG Artist Development program is in its 32nd year where it’s fostered the careers of over 1000 filmmakers. And this year PI has 31 new Fellows joining as part of its 2025 cohort.
They’ll join the likes of Andrew Ahn (Bridgerton), Thembi Banks (Young. Wild. Free.), Effie T. Brown (The Inspection), Linda Yvette Chávez (Flamin’ Hot), Jon M. Chu (Wicked), Jomo Fray (Nickel Boys), Rachel Goldberg (Agatha All Along), Hank Jones (Will Trent), Mako Kamitsuna (All Day and a Night), Marvin Lemus (Gentefied), LaToya Morgan (Splinter), Lulu Wang (Expats), Harry Yoon (The Fire Inside), Kim Yutani (Director of Programming, Sundance) and many more.
With Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group as the Lead Sponsor, Film Independent continues to advance its mission to support diversity and inclusion in the film industry. “2025 marks my 20th year with Project Involve, and it’s as exciting as ever. Each cohort brings fresh energy, passion and creativity that inspire us all” said Francisco Velasquez, Associate Director of Project Involve. “It’s truly a joy to work with such talented and driven artists and to witness the innovative ways they’ll invigorate this industry.”
Project Involve is a free ten-month program for filmmakers from diverse backgrounds. Fellows engage in one-on-one meetings with film industry mentors, attend workshops and conversations led by renowned professionals, join industry networking events and collaboratively produce five short films from inception to completion.
This year’s Fellows will be introduced at Film Independent’s annual First Look Screening on Thursday, January 9, 2025, at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles, where six shorts, including a LAIKA-sponsored stop-motion animation short, produced by the 2024 Project Involve cohort will screen. The event is open to the public.
In addition to all that exciting news, we’d like to announce some generous Grants for our Project Involve Fellows.
First up, we have the Climate Entertainment Commissioning Grant, in partnership with Plot Shift Media to award a $25,000 grant to one talented screenwriter to help them create a brand-new, climate-centered fiction feature script. This initiative is all about fostering projects that raise awareness around climate change while offering a solid financial boost to make these important stories come to life.
We’re also thrilled to announce that Bushra Burney is the well-deserved recipient of the MPAC® Hollywood Bureau Fellowship which provides a $10,000 unrestricted cash grant to an American-Muslim filmmaker. This grant offers incredible support to help amplify the voices of filmmakers from diverse backgrounds.
Amazon MGM Studios, the Cayton-Goldrich Family Foundation, Los Angeles Media Fund and Sony Pictures Entertainment will each provide $10,000 unrestricted cash grants to selected filmmakers participating in the program at a later date.
Plus, there’s a Panavision Fellowship that offers a cinematographer in the program a camera package valued at $60,000 for a future project.
And now, on to this year’s Project Involve Fellows…
CINEMATOGRAPHERS
Robert Chuck
Robert Chuck is a Chinese-Filipino cinematographer originally from Honolulu, Hawai’i. His passion for visual media started in graphic design and evolved into a passion for visual storytelling through filmmaking and cinematography. He moved to California to pursue a career in film, earning his MFA in Cinematography at Chapman University in 2018. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Chuck’s goal is to make meaningful connections through filmmaking that broaden his world view, while also exploring his own roots.
Iris Lee
Iris Lee is a Taiwanese-American cinematographer from Fremont, CA who grew up people-watching with her dad’s camcorder. After graduating from UCLA, she was selected as a Cinematography Fellow with the Television Academy, the inaugural AFI Cinematography Intensive for Women (CIW) program, and is an alum of the Academy Gold Rising program. Most recently, she was named a WIF Cinematography Fellow in 2024.
Omer Lotan
Omer Lotan is a cinematographer based in Los Angeles, originally from Tel Aviv. A ‘Minshar School of Art’ graduate, his work spans films, commercials, and music videos. His projects have been recognized at prestigious festivals, including Cannes, Camerimage, and Jerusalem Film Festival. He has shot commercials for global brands such as Wix, Visa, and Doritos. In 2019, he moved to LA to engage with the international film industry. His recent work includes the multinational feature film Jacob The Baker, streaming on Amazon.
Sade Ndya
Sade Ndya is a Caribbean-American cinematographer known for her surreal imagery and dynamic lighting celebrating Black identity. Represented by Gersh, she has freelanced for Disney, NBC, and more. Her film, Soñadora, premiered at Tribeca and is streaming on Amazon Prime. Her video installation, Re-Imagining Black, made its debut at WACO, curated by Tina Knowles. Ndya empowers youth of color with her organizing work at Made In Her Image, a non-profit offering accessible film education.
Erin G. Wesley
Erin G. Wesley is a Visual Artist born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. As a storyteller and multi-hyphenate artist with a concentration in Cinematography, Wesley’s aim is to create visual experiences that inspire freedom, purpose and imagination. She values connectedness and firmly believes that through storytelling, our shared experiences emerge. Her commitments are to provide inclusive, boundless imagery that represents who she is and depicts the world we share. Wesley completed her MFA at AFI.
DIRECTORS
Alexandria Collins
Alexandria Collins is an award-winning director based in Los Angeles, CA. Her film Woman to Woman won Best International Short at the BIFA-Qualifying Manchester Film Festival and Best Short Film at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Collins directed the HULUween short Reborn. Her films have screened at Canneseries and Hellifax amongst others. She graduated from Florida A&M University with a BA in Journalism and won the 1st Place Associated Press Award for her thesis documentary Love Plus.
Jacob Combs
Jacob Combs is a director, writer and producer from Los Angeles. His most recent short film, The Orange at the Seder, played at festivals across the US and internationally. Combs was part of the writers room for the Netflix comedy Blockbuster, and spent a 6-year stint at Pixar in a variety of writing, development and production roles. He wrote on an untitled feature in development and was part of the writers’ room for Pixar’s original series Dream Productions. He also wrote several episodes of the Emmy-nominated Disney+ series Inside Pixar.
Ritvik Dhavale
Ritvik Dhavale is a writer and director. The stories he wants to tell lie between these two worlds: some fully emergedinto diaspora experiences, while others blur the line. Dhavale’s journey into filmmaking began as a thespian in high school theater. He received his B.A. in Screenwriting from UCLA in 2017. He gained industry experience at CAA, Sundance Institute, and Netflix before fully dedicating himself to bringing stories to life. His latest short film Hema won the audience award at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.
Peiqi Peng
Peiqi Peng is a Chinese director living in LA, with a MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute. A child fantasy writer who later studied Sociology, Peng tells socially conscious female and queer stories through genre-bending forms, combining gore, fantasy, and absurdist elements with naturalistic sensibilities. Her recent short, A Roadside Banquet, went to a dozen Oscar-Qualifying film festivals, screened on KCET/PBS, got nominated at the YDA Awards, and screened at the American Pavilion showcase at Cannes 2024.
Silvia Ray
Sylvia Ray is an award-winning Chicana/Korean-American director based in Los Angeles. In 2024, she was selected as a Latino Film Institute Inclusion Fellow, where she wrote and directed The Vote. Her feature script The Middle was a quarterfinalist at the HollyShorts Film Festival and selected for the FICMonterrey Pro-Meetings Program. The Middle proof of concept was nominated for Best LatinX Film at the 2024 HollyShorts Film Festival.
EDITORS
Jazmin Jamias
Jazmin Jamias is an editing graduate of the American Film Institute and recipient of the Anne V. Coates Award for Best Student Editing by ACE (American Cinema Editors). Formerly a rehabilitation nurse, she transitioned into editing, working on short films, documentaries, and music videos. She served as an Assistant Editor for Dreams in Nightmares, which premiered at the BlackStar Film Festival. Jazmin contributed to the 2023 Sundance Directing Lab and represented AFI for FILM lab at the Telluride Film Festival.
Avo John Kambourian
Avo John Kambourian is an award-winning editor and filmmaker from Los Angeles. He is a 2025 Film Independent Project Involve Editing Fellow. While earning his MFA from USC School of Cinematic arts his passion for filmmaking grew into a love for editing and helping filmmakers bring their stories to the screen. In 2024, Neither Donkey, Nor Horse, a short film he co-edited, premiered at Telluride Film Festival and was awarded with a Student Academy Award.
Skylar Lin
Skylar Lin is a film editor and a Film Independent Project Involve Fellow. Born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, she has edited across various genres, including the National Geographic documentary Asia’s Housing Experiments and the animated feature Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm (a finalist at the 2019 Palm Springs International Animation Festival). Her recent work, Where the Mountain Women Sing, premiered at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival.
Amy Rosenberg
Amy Rosenberg is an award-winning editor and 2025 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow, represented by Cut+Run. Known for her technical precision and emotional depth, her work spans commercials, branded content, and narrative projects. She has collaborated with brands like Calvin Klein, NFL, and Meta, and edited The Code for Dove, a campaign promoting diversity and realistic beauty standards, earning an Anthem Award and Cannes Titanium shortlist.
Emiliano Styles
Emiliano Styles is a Los Angeles based multi-media artist, and the co-founder of production company SoulploitationCreative Works. He is a 2025 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow and has extensive experience as editor and assistant editor on several unscripted (Chasing Flavor, The Real Housewives of Dallas, Love & Hip Hop) and scripted television (Rap Sh!t, The Game), film (2024 NAACP Image Award nominated short film Lucille & upcoming indie feature That’s Her), digital (Hyundai’s Best in Class, 2024 BET Awards), and commercial projects.
EXECUTIVES
Folasade Ade-Banjo
Folashade Ade-Banjo is a Nigerian-American with a knack for storytelling that blends sci-fi and psychological drama with philosophical undertones. She’s focused on how technology, innovation, and culture converge to shape filmmaking. Ade-Banjo began her career at Google cultivating best-in-class creative campaigns for diverse audiences. After her tech stint, she served as a Creative Executive at Amazon Studios specializing in creative campaigns for sci-fi series.
Tyrin Bell-Sinkfield
Tyrin Bell-Sinkfield fell in love with the entertainment industry at young age. The NYC native graduated from The Pennsylvania State University and began his career in the mailroom at Creative Artists Agency. He quickly landed a desk in the TV Scripted department before working on the Hulu series, How to Die Alone. Bell-Sinkfield is currently the TV Coordinator at FilmNation Entertainment developing, packaging and producing series for premium cable and streaming platforms. His passion is to bring underrepresented stories to the forefront.
Jaycie Luo
Jaycie Luo is a competitive ice hockey player turned film executive who is passionate about shedding light on stories from historically underrepresented communities. She graduated from USC with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and got her start working in film finance and sales at various companies. She currently works at MRC, where she oversees film marketing and publicity campaigns as well as ensures smooth studio operations across business functions.
Connie Qin
Connie Qin grew up in a suburb of Houston, TX as the only child of Chinese-immigrant parents. After graduating from NYU with a B.S. in Business and Political Economy and a brief career in strategy consulting, she worked in representation at The Kohner Agency and Industry Entertainment, where she championed emerging writers from underrepresented backgrounds. She currently works in television development at Rabbit Ears, a CBS Studios-based production company.
Ewea Teresa
From television to spoken word, Ewea Teresa is a fan of storytelling in all forms. She began her entertainment career as a PA in Atlanta before moving out to Los Angeles where she is now a 2025 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow. She loves how stories can both help us escape the world around us and connect us more deeply to it, thus she is drawn to innovative world-building, misfit characters, and cross-cultural narratives. She believes the best stories bend genre and is particularly interested in supporting queer, BIPOC filmmakers.
PRODUCERS
Eduardo Ayres Soares
Eduardo Ayres Soares is a Brazilian director and producer with extensive experience in production and post-production. A 2025 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow, Ayres is passionate about queer narratives and has produced diverse projects, including Chuck and Fern, a live-action fantasy short, and Romeo and Juliet, an experimental hybrid film in Brazilian Sign Language. He was the Head of Post-Production at Anastasia Beverly Hills Studios, overseeing major campaigns, and served as TV Director of Slamdance TV.
Andrés Correa
Andrés Correa is a Mexican-American award-winning producer, educator, and 2025 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow, based in Los Angeles. A USC MFA graduate, Correa is dedicated to amplifying Latinx representation and examining complex social realities through his work. He produced The Dope Years: The Story of Latasha Harlins and For Rosa, earning a Student Academy Award and DGA Student Awards.
Masora Fukuda
Masora Fukuda is an award-winning producer based in Los Angeles. She produced Shania Twain’s music video Giddy Up!, earning her the 2024 Telly Award for Best Music Video. Her portfolio includes Happyend (2024 La Biennale di Venezia) and Sixteen (AFI DWW+), along with producing music videos, commercials, and podcasts featuring talents such as Quincy Jones, Shohei Ohtani, and Pharrell Williams. Her short film credits include Mirai To Future (2023 Pramana Asian Film Festival) and How To Make Shepherd’s Pie (2022 LA Shorts).
Casey Naranjo
Casey Naranjo is an Irish-Ecuadorian filmmaker in Los Angeles. Her producing career unofficially began as a curious 8-year-old with a video camera in her home state of New Jersey. She earned her BFA in Television Writing and Production from Chapman University. Naranjo has collaborated with A24, FX, MAX, The Montecito Picture Company, and Partizan. She currently works as Production Manager for digital media companies Jubilee Media and Nectar, creating short-form content with over 3 billion views.
Aishwarya Sonar
Aishwarya Sonar is a producer from India working at the intersection of US projects focused on humanity, identity and joy. Sonar worked with Priyanka Chopra’s Purple Pebble Pictures on features before moving to LA. She has produced over 20 films which have played at Palm Springs, Red Sea, Santa Barbara, IFFLA among others. Sonar was selected as part of Film London’s Production Finance Market, Film Bazaar’s Co-Production Market and Blackmagic collective’s Producer Lab.
PROGRAMMER<
Zegan Doyle
Zegan Doyle is a writer, director, and film programmer. Although quiet by nature, they possess a deep and abiding passion for drama. Doyle is a SXSW Documentary Feature Programming Associate (2025). They have contributed to programming at Outfest LA, Baby Teeth Film Festival, Fine Arts Film Festival in Bridport, as well as the Rubin Museum of Art. They are a Storytelling Institute Fellow with Canal+, the City of Cannes, and the Cannes Film Festival. Doyle earned their MFA in Screenwriting from the University of California, Los Angeles.
WRITERS
Jax Ball
Originally from Arkansas, Jax Ball is now a Los Angeles-based writer. They are a Film Independent Project Involve 2025 Fellow and their script about a dead clown was a finalist in the 2023 ScreenCraft Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenwriting Competition. They have worked on several shows such as Glow (Netflix) and Little Demon (FX) and got their start writing for TV on Krapopolis (Fox). Currently, they’re digging into their obsessive love of sci-fi and comedy by writing for Rick and Morty (Adult Swim).
Bushra Burney
Bushra Burney is a Pakistani-American writer, performer, and project manager who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and is now based in Los Angeles. Her plays with stories fueled by underrepresented character dynamics have been chosen for new works festivals and her drama feature Jameela at the Bat was a finalist in the 1497 Features Lab and has placed in other competitions. She also wrote and performed a one-person show and is working on a new one. She is always on the quest for a great cup of coffee.
Laura Hunter Drago
Growing up in small-town Virginia, Laura Hunter Drago was a shy child who found her voice through storytelling. An alumna of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Drago writes fantasies and thrillers that center women. She won the Austin Film Festival Fiction Podcast Award for her series, The Crime at Camp Ashwood, and the WeScreenplay Short Script Lab for her script, Nuclearette. Drago also produced stage-to-screen feature film To the New Girl,and Coven Film Festival runner-up short The Echo.
Brandyn Johnson
Brandyn Johnson is a father, filmmaker, and educator from Brooklyn, NY. During his time at USC, he developed a proficiency in screenwriting, directing, creative producing, and film sound through mentorship from award-winning professionals like Brenda Goodman, David Balkan, Barnet Kellman, Steve Flick and Midge Costin. Johnson currently serves as the Program Manager for Ghetto Film School LA.
Montserrat Luna-Ballantyne
Originally from Monterrey, México, Montserrat Luna-Ballantyne is a Los Angeles-based WGA screenwriter. She grew up on a steady diet of folklore, ghost tales, and family chisme that resulted in her love for writing stories about supernatural horror, the horrors of navigating complex family dynamics, and the comedy that exists within it all. Her writing credits include the GLAAD Media-nominated With Love (Amazon).
Welcome all!
In addition to Lead Sponsor Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, Film Independent’s Project Involve Principal Sponsors include the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Formosa Group, the Golden Globe Foundation, LAIKA, Los Angeles Media Fund, Panavision, Pearl Milling Company, Picture Shop and The MPAC ® Hollywood Bureau. Supporting Sponsors are Amazon MGM Studios, the Cayton-Goldrich Family Foundation, Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture, Plot Shift Media, SAGindie and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Additional support provided by Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and The Office of Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell of the Second District of the County of Los Angeles.
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