Power, Resistance, and Storytelling: Meet BGDM's 2025 Sustainable Artist Fellows

Third Cohort Highlights Documentary as a Catalyst for Activism

New York, NY — Brown Girls Doc Mafia (BGDM) is proud to announce the 2025 Sustainable Artist Fellows, a bold new cohort of documentary filmmakers using nonfiction storytelling as a powerful tool for activism, resistance, and cultural transformation. Relaunched with renewed purpose as BGDM approaches its 10-year anniversary this fall, the Sustainable Artist Fellowship supports early- to mid-career filmmakers who are shaping the future through impact-driven stories. This year’s fellows will each receive $7,500 in funding for creative and professional development, along with personalized impact consulting and peer mentorship through BGDM’s core programs.

“The fellowship was a lifeline, providing not just resources but a community that understands and uplifts my creative vision,” shared 2023 fellow Mars Verrone.

Originally launched in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter Movement, the program continues to support filmmakers at pivotal moments in their personal and professional journeys. This year, the program received 125 applications, a testament to the urgent need for holistic support in the field.

This year’s fellows embody BGDM’s commitment to centering marginalized communities, speaking truth to power, and envisioning collective liberation through documentary film with diverse projects rooted in social justice and activism.

The 2025 Sustainable Artist Fellows are:

Thien Dinh (they/them)

Philadelphia, PA | Cultural worker, artist, filmmaker

Thien holds a degree in public policy and has a decade of experience in labor and community organizing. Their work focuses on art that inspires people to take action and promotes social justice. Thien’s short documentary STORIES FROM THE HEART OF PUBLIC EDUCATION was an official selection at the 2024 Bridgeport Film Festival and won "Best Film from the Frontlines" at the 2024 Workers Unite Film Festival.

Project: Through Our Hands (working title)
Who is the American worker? Set against the backdrop of 'Made in the USA' pride and rising xenophobia, THROUGH OUR HANDS weaves AAPI stories of everyday working class heroes and a critical lens on labor history to challenge the myths of the American working class. The film prompts viewers to reconsider who truly cashes in on capitalism – and who pays the price.

Sara Husain Chishti

New York, NY | Filmmaker and producer

Sara is a Film and Media Studies graduate of Johns Hopkins University whose work amplifies underrepresented stories of resilience. She produced Exodus (SXSW 2025) and Mama Fela, both directed by Nimco Sheikhaden.
She recently wrapped as an associate producer on the HBO series Eyes on the Prize (directed by Geeta Gandbhir) and worked on Firelight’s San Juan Hill: Manhattan's Lost Neighborhood.

Project: Taxi Driver
Amid crippling debt and relentless exploitation, New York City’s immigrant taxi drivers fight to reclaim their humanity and the American Dream, navigating a city-sanctioned medallion lending scheme that has left their community in financial ruin.

Caron Creighton

Bay Area, CA | Journalist and documentary filmmaker

Caron is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker who has worked for The Associated Press, AJ+, KCBS Radio, and The San Francisco Chronicle, and has lectured at the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. She has reported on the struggles faced by Eritrean migrants in Israel and West African migration through Latin America. Her work often centers displacement across the African diaspora, informed by her lived experience.

Project: Wood Street

Two unhoused men turned community leaders— John and LaMonté —organize their neighbors in the face of displacement, addiction, and a failing social system.

This year’s Fellows were selected by a jury of acclaimed curators and artists: Ruun Nuur, programmer and producer, and co-founder of NO EVIL EYE CINEMA, Yoruba Richen, Peabody-winning director and founder of the documentary program at CUNY Journalism, Kitty Hu, Co-Founder of Shoes Off Media and BGDM Talent and Programs Manager, and Nivedita Das, producer, impact strategist, and Co-Executive Director of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

As Brown Girls Doc Mafia celebrates a decade of building collective power in documentary, we invite the industry to stand with these filmmakers and the movements they represent. Fund their visions. Share their stories. Invest in a future where nonfiction filmmaking is not only transformative but also sustainable for the artists involved.