Ragini Bhasin
Ragini Bhasin is a writer and director from India who is now based in Los Angeles. A graduate of Chapman University’s film school, she has created short films that have screened at several Oscar^®-qualifying festivals, with two recent works opening at Palm Springs ShortFest. Her films have also been highlighted in The Wrap’s ShortList festival and distributed by ARTE Channel, ShortsTV, Argo Channel and PBS. In March 2025, her latest short will premiere as a Vimeo Staff Pick.

She was also the recipient of the Meredith MacRae Memorial Award from Women in Film (WIF), a BAFTA Newcomer (2021–2024), the winner of the 2022 Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge hosted by CAPE and Janet Yang Productions, and a Directing Fellow for Film Independent’s Project Involve program (2023).

Her narratives explore the journeys of women and young girls who challenge societal norms, embracing their fierceness and unapologetic authenticity. She has a keen interest in crafting everyday thrillers and socially conscious stories that spark dialogue and impact.

She is also a freelance director for Jubilee Media, where she previously held a full-time role for five years. The unscripted series, especially MIDDLE GROUND, have amassed millions of views on YouTube, and she has created content for major brands, including Lionsgate, ABC and Google.

Reena Dutt
Reena Dutt is dedicated to new and reimagined texts that catapult polarizing conversations through unexpected stories with the bodies, voices and life experiences of the underheard. Her short film, FOUND, brings voice to transracial adoption through fictional storytelling from the adoptee’s point of view, and is currently touring private events as a conversation starter for adoption organizations across the country. Dutt directed TOO MANY BODIES, a socially driven music and dance piece advocating for gun reform, which was picked up by NoRAnow.org and Survivors Empowered and received numerous festival awards in music video and social justice categories. As a producer, she has screened films at over 80 festivals worldwide including Sundance, LAFF, Outfest, Frameline, Cucalorus, NBCUniversal, BET, PBS/Latino and HBO. She is a past participant in producing fellowships at SFFilm, Project Involve/Film Independent and Trans Atlantic Partners with the Goethe-Institut.

Dutt is also a theater director. She most recently opened a workshop production of “The Magician’s Sister” by Jami Brandli at Kayenta Arts in Utah, and before that “Galileo’s Daughter” by Jessica Dickey in the Berkshires at WAM, transferring to Boston’s Central Square Theater. Her Broadway debut was ADing on “The Collaboration” starring Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope. She has also directed at Columbia University, Playwrights Realm, Drama League’s DirectorFest/A.R.T., CSULB, Chalk Rep, CalArts, Sacred Fools, UC Riverside, Artists At Play and Artists Repertory Theatre, as well as Amphibian Stage, Constellation Stage and Screen. Her theater directing fellowships include Drama League NY Directing Fellow, LCT Directors Lab, Directors Lab West.

Maja Fernqvist
Maja Fernqvist has a flourishing Creative Director background from the advertising industry. Her work has been recognized with multiple global recognitions and awards. She received her bachelor’s degree in Art Direction/Creative Communication from an acclaimed school in Stockholm, Sweden, and moved to New York City shortly after. Her extensive experience with 15 years of making brand concepts, commercials and collaborating with global A-list directors, editors and cinematographers led her to pursue her own directing career. Fernqvist’s strong conceptual, visual and storytelling background has truly helped shaping her unique voice as a director.

Fernqvist’s work includes music videos, art films, commercials and short films officially selected by film festivals. Fernqvist was chosen by Lionsgate to direct a short film from the Twilight Saga Universe, and she was presented a plaque at the Women in Film Lucy+Crystal Awards. Fernqvist has also explored the world of storytelling in Virtual Reality 3D. Early on she experimented and created a suspenseful narrative 3D short film based on “Red Riding Hood.” Her promotional piece for National Geographic, a visually arresting short story about love, earned her an award at the Brand Film Festival. Fernqvist was selected as one of the emerging directors by SHOOT for its New Directors Showcase. Fernqvist puts a lot of attention on how to tell her stories in artful and visually arresting ways, and often with a twist of something unique and unexpected. Craft is always at the center of her work.

Melissa Fisher
Melissa Fisher is an accomplished director, writer and multi-hyphenate in the industry. As a member of the International Cinematographer’s Guild, she has over 12 years of industry experience working on Academy^® and Emmy^® Award-winning films and television series.

Fisher worked her way up from a camera PA on Michael Bay’s PAIN & GAIN to camera assist on films like Damien Chazelle’s LA LA LAND and FIRST MAN, to eventually running the camera department on hit television shows like GLOW and THE DROPOUT. Her decade of experience working behind the camera has given her a keen sense for aesthetic visual storytelling.

Fisher graduated from Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts with a BFA in Film Production. Her directorial work merges technical skill with poetic imagery to create emotionally evocative drama. She is drawn to projects that tackle social justice themes and highlight marginalized communities. Fisher has directed several short films that have screened in Academy^®-qualifying festivals. Her most recent film BUSCANDO ALMA focused on immigration and gender identity and won numerous awards including the Oscar^®-qualifying Jury Award at Atlanta’s Out On Film Festival making it eligible for the 2025 Academy Awards^®.

Ran Jing
Born and raised in China, Ran Jing is an award-winning writer and director renowned for blending genre with character-driven and inclusive storytelling.

A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Jing’s short films have been celebrated at prestigious film festivals worldwide. Her debut feature, MODEL, received critical acclaim and earned awards at several Academy Award^®– and BAFTA-qualifying film festivals, including the Emerging Director Award at the Edmonton International Film Festival, the New Talent Award at the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival and honors at the 43rd Asian American International Film Festival. Featured in Variety’s China edition, MODEL had a theatrical release in China in October 2021 through United Entertainment and later became available on streaming platforms such as iQiyi, Tencent, Viki and Smart Cinema.

Before transitioning to live-action filmmaking, Jing began her career as a storyboard artist at Blue Sky Studios in Connecticut. She contributed to acclaimed animated features such as SPIES IN DISGUISE, FERDINAND (Academy Award^® nominee), the ICE AGE franchise, the RIO franchise, and THE PEANUTS MOVIE (Golden Globe nominee). She later joined Strange Weather Films, where she worked on the Annie Award-nominated animated feature WISH DRAGON, which was released on Netflix.

Drawing from her extensive experience in both Hollywood and China, Jing crafts narratives that explore universal themes of identity, immigration and belonging. Her scripts have won the ISA Fast Track Fellowship, received CineStory Scholarships, ranked in the Top 100 of the Launch Pad Feature Competition, and advanced to the semifinals of the Nicholl Fellowships. She has also advanced to the second round in both the Sundance Screenwriting Lab and the Austin Film Festival’s Script Competition. Additionally, she has written mini-series for Viu TV in Hong Kong and a feature film for Ruyi Films.

A proud member of the Writers Guild of America and Film Fatales, Jing is currently developing her second feature film, A PROFILED LIFE.

Eunice Levis
Writer and director, Eunice Levis, is a first-generation Dominican American from the Bronx, New York. Levis’ work focuses on genre-bending stories that combine her love of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. Her work seeks to disrupt and challenge dominant narratives around technology, race, gender, history and diaspora identity.

She was most recently a 2024 NALIP Media Accelerator fellow, a Starz #TakeTheLead Writer’s Lab Intensive fellow and an Alliance of Women Directors #MLD mentee, and previously a two-time Sundance Lab “second rounder,” a Stowe Story Lab Fellow and a Netflix/NALIP Women of Color Short Film Incubator fellow. Levis’ Caribbean folklore horror micro short FELL ENDS was named an Extraordinary Selection at NYX’s 13 Minutes of Horror Film Festival and streamed on Shudder.

Her latest short, RO & THE STARDUST, a bilingual space fantasy, has screened internationally and in top domestic festivals including UrbanWorld, ABFF and the Pan African Film Festival. The film won Best Narrative Short at the 25th Annual Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival, making it eligible for consideration for the Academy Awards^® Narrative Short category. RO & THE STARDUST is currently streaming on Netflix.

In addition to writing and directing, Levis is a film adjunct professor and cohosts Café Negro con Genre, a podcast that promotes creatives working in the genre space. Eunice holds an MA from New York University.

Chaconne Martin-Berkowicz
Chaconne Martin-Berkowicz is a writer and director originally from Portland, Oregon, now living between New York City and Los Angeles. Her work explores desire, power dynamics and the female gaze.

Martin-Berkowicz’s television writing credits include Amazon’s CRUEL INTENTIONS and Amazon’s I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.

As a director, Martin-Berkowicz’s short film SCOTTY’S VAG premiered at SXSW and won Best Narrative Short at the Oscar^®-qualifying Atlanta Film Festival. It is now streaming on Vimeo, where it received a Staff Pick. Martin-Berkowicz’s previous short, IN SYNC, premiered at the Maryland Film Festival, and received a Marlyn Mason Award for new voices, new perspectives by women in film at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. It is now streaming on NoBudge.

Martin-Berkowicz is a 2024 Sony Pictures Television Diverse Directors fellow and is developing her feature directorial debut. She holds a BA in Creative Writing and Film from Johns Hopkins University.

Destinee Stewart
Destinee Stewart is a director and writer from Dallas, Texas, now based in Los Angeles. After a career in fashion, Stewart made the switch to film after discovering the work of Rodrigo García (AFI Class of 1986). Her work explores identity, resilience and connection, often weaving themes of psychological depth and underrepresented perspectives in visually compelling and emotionally resonant, character-driven storytelling.

Stewart’s most recent film, THE OTHER PARTNERS, premiered in 2024 at the Oscar^®-qualifying RiverRun Film Festival. The film examines unequal dynamics in sexual pleasure within relationships, sparking a conversation about intimacy, communication and empowerment through a candid, yet comedic lens. Her feature, WADE IN THE WATER, a psychological horror, has been supported by BendFilm: Basecamp and the Cucalorus Writing Residency. She is developing her proof-of-concept short film for her feature WADE IN THE WATER.

Outside of her narrative work, Stewart has also led international dubbing productions for Netflix, collaborating on globally impactful projects like IRON CHEF, LOVE IS BLIND, REPRESENT and IN HIS SHADOW. She continues to expand her creative vision with innovative storytelling that uplifts diverse voices.