Sound & Scene: NewFest + Concord QTBIPOC Short Film Initiative

Vivian Ip is a Singaporean filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her work explores the human condition and centers underrepresented voices, often drawing from personal memory, identity, and displacement. 
Her narrative short films include An Island Drifts (Urbanworld, Dances with Films), At the Water’s Edge (San Diego Comic-Con, NewFilmmakers LA), and Bobo in Bliss (Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival). Her work has been supported by ARRI and the University of Southern California, where she received Best Director and Best Drama at USC’s First Look Awards.

In addition to her filmmaking practice, Vivian has directed commercial and branded content for clients including TikTok Shop, TCL Electronics, and for Red Bull, she directed the documentary short The Smart Diver (Indy Shorts, Florida Film Festival). In the landscape of vertical microdramas, her shows have culminated over hundreds of millions of views, including Breaking the Ice on ReelShort, Love, Lies, and Alibis on Vigloo, amongst others.

She holds an L.L.B with Honours from Durham University and an M.F.A in Film and Television Production from USC. Vivian is a member of BAFTA Connect and is licensed to practice law in both Singapore and California, though she feels most at home on set.

Kalani Axelrode is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, and founder of aka productions (pronounced aw-kah), a BIPOC and Gen Z–centered production company committed to relational, process-based approaches to media-making. Rooted in diasporic Kānaka ʻŌiwi and multiracial lineage, their practice resists categorization, spanning Super 8mm and 16mm film, narrative cinema, biomaterial sculptures, and participatory performances shaped through interactive software. Their work explores intimacy as a somatic and mediated experience, examining why and how we choose to connect.

Axelrode has presented work at over 50 international venues including at the International Symposium of Electronic Art in Meanjin/Brisbane, Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaiʻi and the Museum of the Moving Image in Lenapehoking/Queens. They received the 2023 LIFT Award from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and were a TRADES Artist in Residence at Aupuni Space Gallery. They hold an M.A. from NYU Tisch’s Interactive Media Arts program, where they are now a 2025–26 Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

day is a New York-based multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose work is informed by the lived experiences of being both Black and queer, and is defined by a sense of stillness and minimalism that invites the viewer to slow down and thoughtfully engage. Their background in design and commercial filmmaking shapes their approach, as day uses a refined aesthetic sensibility to explore the intersections between art and commercialism. day’s work traverses themes of memory, nostalgia, and surrealism, while elemental symbolism weaves stories of collective experiences, recollections, and destinies. 

day’s short film “Blue” debuted as part of Hulu’s anthology documentary series “Your Attention Please” and was exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. They have directed work for brands including Sonos, P&G, Spotify, Meta, Tesco, the WNBA, Nike, Fila, and Reebok. Most recently, day completed their first narrative short film, Lovin’ Her, a non-linear film about a mature trans woman navigating the complexities of a fading memory. Lovin’ Her screened at international film festivals including NewFest, BFI Flare, Inside Out, Newport Beach, and Drama International, winning the Grand Jury Prize at the 2025 Bentonville Film Festival.

Manuel Villarreal is an award-winning queer Mexican-American writer and director based in Los Angeles. He received his M.F.A. in Directing from the American Film Institute Conservatory, where his thesis film, La Bruja, won the Audience Award at the Hola Mexico Film Festival. His short film Deep Dish Dimples, starring Brian Michael Smith and Angelica Ross, premiered at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival and screened at festivals including HollyShorts, Bentonville, and Out on Film.

Villarreal is an alumnus of Film Independent’s Project Involve Directing Fellowship and the Mitú x Walmart Filmmaker Mentorship Program, the latter of which he directed El Colibrí, which has amassed over 30,000 views on YouTube. Through his work, Villarreal blends realism with the fantastical, reminding audiences of the enduring power of magic.

Syra McCarthy is a Filipino / New Zealander, first-generation American filmmaker and actor. Moving with grace between different styles of film —from cinematic surrealism to smart quirky comedy—she approaches filmmaking with a stylistic flair that subverts expectations. Her history as an actor, editor & photographer all inform her distinct approach to storytelling.

Striving for gender equity within the media industry, Syra co – founded Soft Hold Collective: a film directory highlighting female & non-binary Bay Area freelancers.

She is currently rostered in the US with Even / Odd Studios.

Nico Blanco is a queer filmmaker from Bogota, Colombia, who currently lives in Los Angeles, where he attended the AFI Conservatory. Nico has an extensive body of work in fiction and documentary, including the gay nightlife short Cowboy, Choker, Harness & Heart, which played at Newfest 2023. He is an alum of the Film Independent Imaginar Residency and the Gotham Project Market. He is currently directing the queer nightlife documentary, Born to be Kissed in the Dark, and is in post-production for the Tom House documentary, House of Leather, which he produced. His work focuses on desire as a force that we can’t control and how it drives us in constructive and destructive ways.

Moitri Ghosh is an Indian-born, Atlanta-based director whose perspective is shaped by her upbringing as a Third Culture Kid, who grew up in India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and the US. Her fascination with human behavior and visual aesthetics informs her lens and storytelling. Having honed her skills as a producer in the fast-paced world of advertising and as a director of long-form nonfiction content and narrative shorts, Moitri loves telling nuanced character-driven stories that speak to a truth. Whether exploring themes of societal expectations, conflicting identities, or self-alignment, Moitri’s work is an invitation to view the familiar with new eyes.

Mekhai Lee is a Proud graduate of the Drama program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He co-created, wrote, directed, and produced an original web-series entitled “Fortheboys” to much acclaim, garnering placements in renowned film festivals & eventually catching the eye of Colman Domingo’s production company Edith Productions, as well as production company Pretty Matches Productions co-owned by Sarah Jessica Parker. The series is now in active development under these two companies. Mekhai was the second recipient of the HBO Director’s Fellow Program on “Succession” as well as a member of Ryan Murphy’s Half-Initiative Director Program. As a director, Mekhai’s shooting style reflects some of his inspirations, including but not limited to Barry Jenkins, Spike Lee, Alfonso Cuaron, Savannah Leaf and Pedro Almadovar. He is repped by Gersh Agency and Insight Management.

Kyle Casey Chu (AKA Panda Dulce) is a writer and founder of Drag Story Hour (DSH). She writes about queer & trans people of color, drag performers and displaced San Franciscans. In 2022, far-right extremists stormed her reading in San Lorenzo to silence her. Instead, she gained a global platform.

Her writing has earned awards and recognition from Sundance, SFFILM and Lambda Literary, and appeared on Vogue, VICE, them.us and MTV.

Kyle’s debut novel, “The Queen Bees of Tybee County” (HarperCollins, 2025) has been optioned into a UK episodic.

She served alongside DSH as Grand Marshall of SF Pride 2023.

Kevin Xian Ming Yu is a non-binary filmmaker from Queens, NY. They are a 2024 Film at Lincoln Center Artist Academy Fellow and 2023-2024 UFO Film Lab filmmaker. Kevin is committed to telling the stories of underrepresented communities, specifically representing the Asian-American diaspora in New York.

Kevin has also worked as a cinematographer on various short form content and two feature films. Their work as a director has been featured on Wonderland and screened at festivals such as the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and NFFTY. Their work as a cinematographer has been featured on Short of the Week and the A.V. Club.

Kevin is also the co-editor of homesickness: a BIPOC Cinema Zine.