Beyond the Binary

Lilly Wachowski is a film director, writer, and producer most known for co-creating The Matrix trilogy together with her sister Lana Wachowski. The Wachowskis made their directorial debut with their lesbian noir, Bound (1996). Their other feature work includes V for Vendetta (2005, writer/producers), Speed Racer (2008), Ninja Assassin (2009, producers), Cloud Atlas (2012), and Jupiter Ascending (2015). Their last project together was the Netflix science fiction drama series Sense8, created and written with J. Michael Straczynski which won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series. In May 2019, Wachowski was a co-writer and co-showrunner for two seasons of the critically acclaimed drama-comedy series Work in Progress, created by Abby McEnany and Tim Mason for Showtime.

Gulet Isse is a Somali American filmmaker and actress based in Brooklyn, NY. Her credits include “CANDIS CAYNE’S SECRET GARDEN” (Hulu, 2023) and “LITTLE AMERICA” (Apple TV, 2022). Isse’s work as a writer/director have garnered them development support from esteemed organizations such as the Sundance Institute (2024 TPI Fellow); Transgender Film Center (2024 Trailblazer Grant Recipient); Film Fatales (2025 Fatales Forward Fellow); The Center for Cultural Power (2023 Disruptors Fellow); and Lambda Literary (2022 Screenwriting Fellow). In conjunction with her work in film, Isse founded BXD Collective—a medium-agnostic community platform through which they curate annual summer exhibitions—and has raised over $25,000 to develop the work of 50+ underrepresented artists.

Hao Zhou is an Ohio-based filmmaker originally from southwest China. Zhou’s films explore queer and feminist themes, through a range of nonfiction and narrative approaches. Their films include the no-budget feature “The Night” (Berlinale, 2014) as well as several short films: “Correct Me If I’m Wrong” (2025), “Like What Would Sorrow Look” (2024), “Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way” (2024), “Here, Hopefully” (2023), and others. Zhou’s work has been selected by the Berlinale, Locarno, Rotterdam, SXSW, and Hot Docs, with funding from ITVS, Firelight Media, IF/Then x Hulu, Frameline, and other organizations.

Helen Peña is a Dominican-American child of the Atlantic, filmmaker, and culture worker from Miami, FL. Their work has screened in festivals across the country including Prismatic Ground, New Orleans Film Festival and Third Horizon Film Festival. In 2020, Helen participated in the UCLA Sanctuary Spaces Residency, where they worked on their first short film, When Angels Speak of Love, which screened on PBS South Florida. In 2023, their short film Irresistible was selected as a finalist for the New Orleans Film Society South Pitch and The Barbara Hammer Lesbian Experimental Filmmaking Grant. In 2017, Helen co-founded (F)empower, a collective of queer feminist artist-activists. Their films and culture work have been showcased at the Museum of Modern Art, the New Museum, the Norton Museum of Art, ICA Miami and more. They are currently pursuing an MFA at California Institute of the Arts.

Kyle Casey Chu is a Filmmaker, Author and a founding queen of Drag Story Hour. She is currently a 2024-2025 FilmHouse Resident at SFFILM. In 2022, far-right extremists stormed her reading in San Lorenzo, making global headlines. Based on the incident, her short screenplay, “After What Happened at the Library” won WeScreenplay, Titan Awards and SF Indie’s Short Screenplay Competitions. With support from Sundance, SFFILM, Talon Entertainment, the SF Arts Commission and Skywalker Sound, the screenplay was produced and will premiere at Florida Film Festival and SF International Film Festival in April 2025. This short is a proof-of-concept for her debut narrative feature film. The script is in an advanced draft and was workshopped at Sundance’s Trans Possibilities Intensive, Lambda Literary’s Writers Retreat and Film Fatales. Kyle’s debut novel, “The Queen Bees of Tybee County” (HarperCollins, 2025), was recently optioned by Lambur Productions into a UK TV show.

Roberto Fatal is a Meztize Chicana filmmaker and storyteller. They come from Rarámuri, Genízaro, and Spanish ancestry. Their Queer, gender fluid, Mestize/Mixed identity informs the sci-fi, films they make. Their work centers on humans who sit at the intersections of time, space and culture. From this unique vantage point, these characters can bridge divides, see all sides, find new paths forward and recall multiple histories long forgotten. The mixed people of Fatal’s stories can connect us deeply to an undercurrent of humanity that we often overlook in a world that is increasingly divided. Survival, intersectional identity, perseverance, love, empathy, community, connection and creation are at the heart of their characters and films. Fatal is a Sundance Film Institute Native Film Lab Fellow Alum and an Imagine Native Director’s Lab feature film fellow alum. Their debut feature script, ELECTRIC HOMIES, was awarded the 2023 SFFILM Rainin Screenwriting Grant and the 2025 Sundance Institute screenwriters lab fellowship. their newest short film, EN MEMORIA, was selected to screen in competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival Shorts film program.

​StormMiguel Florez is a trans, queer Chicane filmmaker, whose work includes the award-winning films “The Whistle” (2019, Producer/Director), “MAJOR!” (2015, Editor/Co-Producer) and “Vulveeta (2022, Co-producer, Editor, Actor). StormMiguel is currently working on his feature narrative directorial debut, “Welcome To Roswell,” for which he received received a 2022 SFFILM/Rainin grant, 2021 Sundance Trans Possibilities fellowship, a Film Fatales Stowe Story Labs Fellowship, and most recently a grant from the Sundance/Gold House One House Filmmakers Fund. StormMiguel is also an event producer, actor, and a life-long musician. His first acting role was at the tender age of ten in the made for TV movie, Police Woman Centerfold. He’s originally from Albuquerque, NM, which he very much considers to be his homeland, and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 27 years. He lives with his life partner and fellow filmmaker, Annalise Ophelian, and their 2 chihuahuas.