The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) and Janet Yang Productions have named the four grant recipients of the Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge for Asian American and Pacific Islander Women or Nonbinary Filmmakers.
Each filmmaker will each receive $25,000 to produce their short films.
Yang, founder of the Short Film Challenge and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said: “Nothing makes me happier than discovering and supporting emerging talent. We need their voices to keep our filmmaking culture robust, relevant and inspiring. This year, and every year, we have been able to add great filmmakers to the talent pool.“
CAPE head of programs Rhian Moore said, “Given the challenging times in our country and the attacks we are witnessing on women’s and LGBTQ rights, it is now more important than ever to champion storytelling from women and non-binary voices.” Moore went on to say, “The 2024 Celluloid Ceiling Report revealed that only 16% of the people who worked on the top 250 films last year were women, and the number is significantly smaller for Asian and Pasifika women and non-binary filmmakers. Clearly, we have a lot of work to do and CAPE is excited to champion these four phenomenal writer-directors alongside Janet Yang and Julia Gouw.”
According to UCLA’s 2025 Hollywood Diversity Report, BIPOC and women directors remained underrepresented amongst film directors in 2024, with the number of blockbuster-budget films by BIPOC directors declining from 10 in 2023 to six in 2024. Only one film was directed by a woman of color: Short Film Challenge contributor and director-writer Dana Ledoux Miller, who co-directed “Moana 2.”
The four winning grantees are below.
Cameron Kwan (she/they) is a Chinese American director specializing in stop motion animation. She draws on her experience growing up queer and mixed-race to create stories for young audiences that explore emotions, relationships, identity and culture. She loves stories where the abstracts of emotion and identity are made manifest through magical realism. Kwan began her career on the Emmy-winning preschool series “Tumble Leaf” before joining forces with her business partners to found their independent animation studio Apartment D, where she collaborates with brands such as Monster High, American Girl and Sanrio to create stop motion animated series.
Nadine (Misong) Jin (she/her) is a New York-based filmmaker from South Korea. Her work explores questions of identity, the aesthetics of melancholy, and the ruination of the self. Her visual strength lies in images with stillness, charged with tension and mystery. After studying English literature and film directing at SKKU, she is currently an MFA Film candidate at Columbia University. Recently, she was selected for the 2024 Pedro Costa Creators Lab in Mexico, and her film Juk won a Grand Prize at the DGA student awards.
Rachel Leyco (she/her) is an award-winning queer Filipino American filmmaker, actress, and content creator. She founded Empowerhouse, a company fostering creativity and community among storytellers. A student Emmy winner for The Sub Club, her work has screened at Outfest, BFI Flare, and more. Her feature script “Violet” was Runner-Up in the 2020 Script Pipeline Competition. She co-wrote “Re-Live: A Tale of an American Island Cheerleader,” a 2022 GLAAD x Black List selection. Passionate about Filipino and queer stories, Rachel infuses magical realism into everyday moments, bringing historically underrepresented narratives to the forefront of mainstream media.
Suhashini Krishnan (she/her) is a filmmaker whose work has been recognized by the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, Slamdance, Santa Barbara and Tasveer Film Festivals, among several others. Her works have been developed at various studios and production companies including Sad Unicorn and Di Bonaventura, and she is currently in development on her feature directorial debut, “Generationals.” Suhashini is a 2023 Black List Resident and 2023 Women in Film Fellow. She resides in California with her husband and two chaotic, disobedient dogs.
Founded by Yang and Gouw, the Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge aims to help uplift women and nonbinary filmmakers and stories in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Outside of the cash grant, all four filmmakers will receive unparalleled networking and mentorship opportunities as well as resources and discounts from the program’s partners to support them in producing their short films.
Additional finalists include Devanshi Patel, Desdemona Chiang, Kimberly Truong and Alexandra Shea Formanes. The finalists will join the grantees in an intimate filmmakers retreat with high-level industry professionals across development, production, post-production and film festivals in Los Angeles.
The 2025 Short Film Challenge Jury, comprised of high-level Asian and Pacific Islander industry professionals, included producer Averie Huffine; casting director Charlene Lee (“Beef”); DanTram Nguyen (EVP and co-head of production and development, Searchlight Pictures); Havana Rose Liu (“Bottoms); Kaliko Hurley (senior manager, cultural and head of cultural trust, Walt Disney Animation Studios); Kathy Le-Backes ( RISE, The Walt Disney Company); Women in Film’s senior director of programs Maikiko James; Maureen Bharoocha (“Deli Boys”); and Tati Gabrielle (“The Last of Us”). Ledoux Miller also contributed to the four-line script for the final round of the challenge.
