NuWave

Ava Davis is a Sundance Fellow ('21, Trans Possibilities Intensive) and is also known as the Duchess of Grant Park. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her partner, and has appeared on stage in New York City (Pride50) and Atlanta (Alice in Wonderland, Peril, The Odd Couple). She has also appeared in films (Give Me an A, Could This Have Been An Email, The Duchess of Grant Park). She is also an advocate for increasing trans and queer representation, especially that of black and other minorities. She founded her production company, Studio Vosges, in 2019 with the expressed purpose of telling the stories of queer and trans (GSM) black, brown, and beige people. She hosts the talk show, The Ava Davis Show, on you42.com. She has acted in, written, and produced several short films, including Feast, The Decision, and the upcoming experimental horror short, Torn Together. She also created, produced, and acted in the short film The Duchess of Grant Park, about a trans woman who claims the Grant Park neighborhood of Atlanta as her duchy. With her production company, Davis recently signed a deal for this short film to screen and stream on Atlanta's PBS affiliate WABE for the next two years. She is currently working to produce and secure financing for her first feature film, The Waltz, about a single young trans woman who teams up with a reluctant dance partner to pursue her dream of learning the waltz.

Brit Fryer is an artist and filmmaker from Chicago's South Side, currently based in Brooklyn, NY, whose unique approach to nonfiction storytelling centers on gender and queerness through process-forward and collaborative methods. His most recent film, THE SCRIPT, co-directed with Noah Schamus, unpacks the boundaries of language and the role of performance in shaping an expansive and gender-expansive healthcare system. The film was shortlisted for the 2023 IDA Awards and won the Creative Activism Award at the 2024 SIMA Awards. It is distributed on The Criterion Channel and The New Yorker.He is also the director of CARO COMES OUT, which premiered on HBO Max after winning the Knight Made in MIA Award at the Miami International Film Festival. His other films include ACROSS, BEYOND AND OVER and TRANS·IENCE.His films have been screened in theatres and festivals internationally, including Blackstar, CPH: DOX, Newfest, and MIX NYC. He has received generous support from Sundance, the Gotham, and Points North.

Gulet Isse is a trans feminine, Somali American filmmaker and actor straight out of NOLA, baby! Their work as a performer has earned them roles on-screen in productions such as LITTLE AMERICA (2022) and CANDIS CAYNE’S SECRET GARDEN (2023), as well as developmental fellowships from The Sundance Institute, Center for Cultural Power, and Transgender Film Center. In conjunction with their work in film, Isse founded BXD Collective—a medium-agnostic community platform through which they have curated annual summer exhibitions and raised over $25,000 to develop the work of 50+ underrepresented artists to date.

Kyle Casey Chu (AKA Panda Dulce) 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.

Lauren Melinda is an award-winning filmmaker, artist and founder of SIMBELLE PRODUCTIONS. Her work explores issues of feminine identity and perception, while critiquing the forces of culture and circumstance that mold the roles assigned to women.As a mixed-media artist, Lauren’s video installations have been commissioned by galleries, museums, and private collectors in North America and the Middle East, while her photographs have been sold to major collections around the world.As a filmmaker, Lauren has written and directed three short films that have screened in 52 festivals on nearly every continent – garnering the top prize at six of them. Her most recent narrative film, Before You, is playing the festival circuit and is in collaboration with Planned Parenthood. She is now developing her first narrative feature, ECHOES, in which a Persian-American artist faces a Faustian bargain when a Berlin gallery demands she exploit her heritage for success, as well as a TV series based on her Ukrainian great-grandmother, who served as the midwife to the Shah of Iran.As a mother of two young girls, Lauren’s passion for women’s issues only continues to grow in depth and perspective. Inspired by her daughters, Lauren launched SIMBELLE PRODUCTIONS in 2024, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women through film. The organization fosters female-centric stories that promote mutual validation, awareness, and hope. Lauren received a dual Bachelor’s degrees in Fine Arts and Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of California, Irvine. She is based in Los Angeles.

Ley Comas is an Afro-Latinx Trans non-binary filmmaker. They were born in Costa Rica and raised in the Dominican Republic. After coming to US in 2013, they received their Associate’s degree in Video Arts and Technology from Burrough of Manhattan Community College in 2015. Ley obtained their Bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies from Binghamton University in 2017. They received their Master’s degree in Documentary Filmmaking from The City College of New York, Spring 2020. Ley is a production sound mixer by trade. Their work as a production sound mixer has been included in several film festivals and major streaming platforms. As a non-binary filmmaker of trans experiece, Ley’s work is grounded in collaborating on and creating films that highlight and empower the narratives of underrepresented and erased identities. Ley currently lives in the Bronx; they enjoy bike riding, cooking, and spending time with their cat.

Liz Rao is a Brooklyn-based Screenwriter and Director. “The Truck” World-Premiered at Telluride, screened at MoMA, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Oscar-qualifying Florida Film Festival, won Best Screenplay at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, screening in more than 50 festivals and counting, worldwide. Liz Rao is a Hear Us Awardee developing her debut feature, inspired by similar themes and set in the same community as “The Truck”. A multi-talented Gotham Award–nominated filmmaker, Liz Rao’s Directorial debut is bolstered by her experience as Producer and Editor of a body of acclaimed independent feature films, including MADELINE’S MADELINE, MAINELAND, and MATERNA, with premieres at Sundance, Berlinale, SXSW, and double awards at Tribeca. Rao is a proud member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia. Next month, Liz Rao will complete her MFA in Writing and Directing at the renowned NYU Graduate Film program, supported by top awards from The Future of Film is Female, Fusion Film Award, NYU Kings Award, the Clive Davis Award, the Yunni & Maxine Pao Memorial Scholarship, the Willard T.C. Johnson Fellowship, and the Jonathan Laxamana Emerging Filmmaker Award.

Lorena Villanueva is a Colombian director and producer based in Los Angeles with over a decade of industry experience as an Assistant Director for TV shows and feature films. She completed her Master’s in Film Direction at Bande à Part Film School in Barcelona and she directed her first short, Fuoco Fatuo in Southern Italy. Back in Colombia she directed two more short films Inés (ColFilmNY ‘21) and Bed Smash (Festival SantaFe de Antioquia Best Short Film ‘24, FICNOR ‘24, Cinema Palooza ‘24). She is currently in post production of The Tide Inside, short film she directed and produced about a teenage love story unfolding amidst the psychological pressures of the deportation crisis in Los Angeles. She is also developing her feature directorial debut, Gaira, a love story in midst of the difficult search for forgiveness in the wake of Colombia’s decades-long internal conflict. She is the producer of the Teorema, feature film in development selected for the NALIP Accelerator ‘25, and is a member of the Colombian Academy of Motion Pictures.

Mary Pat Bentel spent years helping other filmmakers find their voices—then her arm shattered, and she found her own. She took notes between surgeries and her directorial debut, THE COCKROACH, emerged. The projects she’s proudest of producing include Peabody-nominated and PGA award-winning THIS CLOSE, a series about best friends, who happen to be deaf; and feature films DARK WAS THE NIGHT, a family drama about loss; ANIMALS, a romantic drama about heroin addiction; and BOLD NATIVE, an action thriller about animal liberation. She's drawn to messy women navigating impossible situations—and plans to throw magical realism, action, and horror at them next.

Mary Evangelista is a filmmaker born in the Philippines and raised in California’s Bay Area. Mary received an MFA from NYU Tisch for Writing and Directing. Their short film, Fran This Summer, is an LGBTQ summer love story that has screened in over 30 festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival. Mary co-created Water Melts, a Tribeca Film Institute and Google-supported VR rom-com which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and screened at Rotterdam International Film Festival. Mary was a Project Involve Fellow with Film Independent where they directed the short La Gloria. Mary’s debut feature film, Burning Well, received a 2020 Tribeca All Access grant.

Nazila Ahmadi is an Afghan filmmaker, actor, and performance artist with over 15 years of experience in film, theatre, and performance art. Born during her family’s flight from Afghanistan, she grew up navigating life as a refugee in Iran and the United States, experiences that deeply inform her art. She has directed several short documentaries, including Close (on the lives of women in Bandar Abbas and Hormuz Island, screened at WOMEN LIFE FREEDOM Film Festival and UC San Diego) and Shomad (about Afghan child laborers), and created performance pieces in Italy and the U.S., such as Zan. Zendegi. Azadi. / Woman, Life, Freedom.As an actress, she has appeared in films and plays addressing social issues, including Tara (aired on BBC Persian), Medea in Kandahar, and award-winning experimental films such as Flatland. Her first feature-length autobiographical documentary, Kochkashi, is in development and has been selected for Close-Up Initiative (Belgium), DMZ Docs Fund (South Korea), and Kundura DocLab (Turkey).In addition to her creative work, Nazila is an advocate for social change, teaching filmmaking to young women through Women’s Voices Now and documenting refugee experiences as a journalist. Her work seeks to amplify marginalized voices, challenge societal norms, and inspire resilience and empowerment. Her work reflects her journey as an Afghan woman navigating displacement, identity, and resilience, striving to create art that empowers and inspires social change. Her films and performances have been recognized internationally, highlighting the resilience of marginalized communities and exploring themes of identity, belonging, and women’s empowerment. She continues to create art that gives voice to the unheard and inspires change across communities worldwide.Her journey continues to inspire and empower...

Nicole Murray is a queer producer, writer and actor currently based in Los Angeles, California. She has produced and acted in various productions including feature film, TIM TRAVERS AND THE TIME TRAVELER’S PARADOX, where she acted alongside Felicia Day and Danny Trejo, feature film DEATH PERCEPTION and award-winning short, ENTITLED. She is co-founder of Svelte Dog Productions, who’s short RUN OUT GROOVE premiered in the Platinum Showcase at Outfest and consisted of a team of all queer and marginalized gendered cast and crew. Nicole’s most recent film, 3 EASY STEPS consisted of an entirely woman and non-binary cast and crew. Nicole is an avid supporter of greater representation in film and volunteers for Film Fatales, a non-profit that advocates for film parity. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Washington, with years of research experience in the addiction and individual differences fields.