Filmmakers
DIRECTOR
Winter Dunn is an award-winning director, producer and actress with a passion for depicting universal stories through the lens of BIPOC voices. Her short film DEAR MAMA… World Premiered at SXSW 2022 and was awarded a Special Jury Mention in Drama at Aspen Shortsfest. Dear Mama… currently streams on The New Yorker and Short of the Week. Her debut film JUNEBUG premiered at American Black Film Festival, made its television debut on FOX Soul and is currently streaming on Tubi and Issa Rae Presents/HOORAE. Dunn is also an editorial video director for Condé Nast Entertainment with a celebrity feature list that includes Lena Waithe, Viola Davis, Sarah Paulson and others.
WRITER
Charmaine Cleveland currently works full time as a Showrunner’s assistant on the historical mini series "Sammy Davis Jr." for Hulu. Previous shows include basketball dramedy “The Crossover” for Disney +, FOX TV’s procedural drama, “Deputy” and the BET series. She uses her experience as a former journalist and international area knowledge to craft timely, emotionally charged narratives. Cleveland holds a Bachelors of Arts in Journalism with a specialization in East Asian Studies from Pepperdine University. Prior to pursuing screenwriting, she was a Getty Multicultural Fellow and was introduced to filmmaking through Film Independent’s internship program.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Jordan Hart is a producer and executive with a successful track record developing scripted and documentary projects for film and television. As Vice President of Development at Good Question Media (THE VVITCH), she sources and shepherds a diverse slate of features and series towards production. Prior to Good Question, she served as Director of Development for the Oscar-, Emmy-, and BAFTA-winning company, Little Monster Films, developing the series EDGE OF THE UNKNOWN and PHOTOGRAPHER for NatGeo and an upcoming film for Netflix. At Baltimore Pictures, led by Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson, Jordan worked on features including PATERNO for HBO and THE SURVIVOR, which premiered at TIFF in 2021. She also supported hit showrunner, DJ Nash, on two NBC sitcoms-- GROWING UP FISHER and TRUTH BE TOLD.
PRODUCER
Nicole Mairose Dizon is a Filipina-American writer/director/producer from Baldwin Park, CA, who elevates bold, inclusive storytelling. With a Film & Media Studies B.A. from UC Irvine, she worked for Apple, ICM, and Scott Free. She is a Kundiman Fellow and an Individual Artist Fellow for the inaugural California Arts Council Fellowship. She wrote and directed a magical realism short, Morena, that premiered at LAAPF. After ICM and Scott Free, she rose from Writers' P.A. to Showrunner's Assistant on Amazon's Blade Runner 2099. The Project Involve Alum produced an NAACP Image Award-nominated short, “Dear Mama…”, currently streaming on The New Yorker and Short of the Week. Outside of work, she loves hiking and watching baseball (Go Dodgers!) and F1.
PRODUCER
Born and raised in China, Xin has lived and studied all over the United States in the past decade, from the Midwest to both coasts. Her work as a producer and director has screened at SXSW, Hot Springs, Aspen, and DOC NYC, and featured on platforms such as The New Yorker and Short of the Week. Xin is a recipient of Film Independent’s Project Involve Producing Fellowship, Visual Communications’s Armed with a Camera Fellowship, the HBO/WarnerMedia Access Animation Fellowship, and the Netflix Nonfiction Directing/Producing Fellowship, where she helped produce the true-crime docuseries D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! (2022). Her work as a documentary director is supported by Netflix and the Los Angeles Media Fund Fellowship.
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Mike Maliwanag (pronounced MAH-li-WAH-nahg) is a Filipino American cinematographer based in Los Angeles. His work has been featured at SXSW, Sundance, Outfest, and other festivals across the world. In 2019 he was selected to participate in the ASC Vision Mentorship while being mentored under Mark Doering Powell, ASC. Mike’s purpose is to continue to shoot films for underrepresented communities. When not shooting he likes to travel and eat food from different parts of the world. He is currently obsessed with okonomiyaki from Hiroshima, Japan.
EDITOR
Ge Zhai is a Chinese film editor based in Los Angeles. She has worked on various scripted and documentary projects, including the narrative feature Summer Knight, which won the Asian Future Best Film Award at the 2019 Tokyo International Film Festival. The film she co-edited, Taipei Suicide Story, took both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for narrative features at 2021 Slamdance Film Festival. Ge is passionate about bringing directors’ visions to life and making stories powerful through editing. She is currently working on a feature film Whale about a mother-daughter road trip.