Meet the 2021 Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellows.

2. Diego Bragà
Diego Bragà was born in Minas Gerais, Brazil and lives in
Lisbon. Diego is a non-binary artist who began their
studies through dance. They lock themselves in the office
and dances frantically every day. Diego received a lot of
Love from their Ancestors, one of them dressed as a witch
and chased them around the house. Diego tries to listen
to the Universe, striving for a fluid, magical and beautiful
future ahead.
What film have you seen the most?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
Describe your community in three words
Inspiring, Courageous, Queer
Diego's Film: Think About The Beautiful Future
Instagram: @diegobragagal

3. Karina Dandashi
Karina Adriana Dandashi is a Syrian-American Muslim
writer, director, and actress based in Brooklyn, NY. Her
films aim to explore nuances in identity through the
intersection of family, religion, and culture in SWANA and
Muslim communities in America. Karina is the 2021 Silver
Sun Diverse Voices Filmmaker Fellow at the Jacob Burns
Film Center where she is currently in post-production on
her next narrative short.
If you could work with one person, dead or alive, who
would it be?
Kaouther Ben Hania
Who would you case to play you in a film?
Sheila Vand
Karina's Film: Short Shorts
Instagram: @KarinaDandashi

4. Dylan Gee
Dylan Gee is a half-Chinese, half-Caucasian filmmaker. In
2019, she graduated from NYU’S Tisch with a B.F.A. in
Film + Television Production. Through film, she’s
interested in making sense of the absurdities around us.
Dylan currently works at Anonymous Content and formerly
worked at Angry Hero Entertainment. She’s working on an
upcoming short and writing her first feature length film.
She’s also obsessed with chess.
What is the best piece of advice you have been given?
“You have to know where the funny is, if you know where
the funny is, you know everything.”
Who would you case to play you in a film?
Aubrey Plaza
Dylan's Film: The Hostess
Instagram: @dygeezy

5. Justice Jamal Jones
Justice Jamal Jones (He/They) is a filmmaker, actor, and writer based in
New York City. Jones is a graduate of New York University with a degree in
Arts Therapy for “Marginalized” Groups. As a self-proclaimed Black queer
alchemist, they integrate Black Feminist and Queer theory into their art
alongside Black diasporic spiritual practices, transforming everyday
mundane western occurrences and conjuring them into serendipitous
collisions of progressive storytelling, that center the marginalized.
Recently their debut film How To Raise A Black Boy has been recognized at
Cleveland International Film Festival, Outfest Fusion Film Festival, and at
Atlanta Film Festival, where Jones won "Filmmaker to Watch.'" The film also
had its digital premiere with NOWNESS. Justice is also the founder of
Rainbow Farm Productions (Rainbowfarmprod.com), and they are
developing their first feature film Crossroads Blues.
What film have you seen the most?
The Wiz (1978)
What is the best piece of advice you have been given?
The greatest thing that you’ll learn is just to love, and to be loved in return.
Justice's Film: How to Raise a Black Boy
Instagram: @justicejamaljones

6. Dubheasa Lanipekun
Dubheasa is a South London-based writer, director, and
producer working across film and theatre. She is a co-founder
of failsafe, an arts collective focusing on the importance of
embracing failure in the creative process and also aims to bring
opportunities to other budding young creatives. Dubheasa
currently works in photography-based arts education and on
independent films while writing and directing her own work in
between projects.
Who would you cast to play you in a film?
Katt Williams
If you could work with one person, dead or alive, who
would it be?
Jimi Hendrix
Dubheasa's Film: Blue Corridor 15
Instagram: @sunzy_dee

7. Lindiwe Makgalemele
Lindiwe Makgalemele is a South African filmmaker based in the
United Kingdom. She is a graduate of Harvard University with an
honour’s degree in History and Science and a minor in Romance
Languages and Literature. Her short film, The Town, has just
began its festival run. Lindiwe is interested in stories that celebrate
the small, intimate, and spectacular moments that make up
people’s lives, particularly those of black and African women. She
is currently completing a master’s degree at the University of
Oxford and developing a short she intends to shoot this fall.
What film have you seen the most?
The Parent Trap
Describe your community in three words.
Young, Gifted, Black
Lindiwe's Film: The Town
Instagram: @lindiwemakgalemele

8. Maliyamungu Gift Muhande
Maliyamungu Gift Muhande is a Congolese Documentary
filmmaker and Artist based in New York City. In 2020 she Directed
a 6-week, film program for under-represented teens in Monticello,
NY. From that program came her documentary-in-progress Near
Broadway, co-created with her students, about their lives in the
economically depressed town and in the U.S. as it exists today.
Muhande's short documentary on the 80-year-old African American
New York City street photographer, Louis Mendes, was screened
in the fall of 2020 as part of the Doc NYC film festival and was
selected by the National Board of Review. She is currently working
on expanding this short into a feature film.
Who would you cast to play you in a film?
Alfree Woodard
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Film everything.
Maliyamungu's Film: Nine Days a Week
Instagram: @congolesetraveler

9. Natalie Murao
Natalie Murao is a yonsei, fourth generation Japanese
Canadian, filmmaker from Vancouver. She received a BFA in Film
Production from Simon Fraser University. Her work explores
themes of generational disconnect, personal memory, and
communication. Her latest short film, No More Parties (2020), was
selected for Telefilm Canada's Not Short on Talent program at
Clermont-Ferrand and is now available to watch on digital TIFF
Bell Lightbox as part of their Community Impact shelf.
Describe your community in three words.
Always evolving together
If you could work with one person, dead or alive, who would it
be?
Edward Yang
Natalie's Film: No More Parties
Instagram: @natmurao

10. Marilyn Oliva
As a first-generation Latina filmmaker hailing from the Bay Area
with an educational background in Anthropology, Latinx Studies,
and Documentary Media, Marilyn Oliva is an independent
documentary and experimental filmmaker. Her experimental films
explore the diversity of Latina/o/x communities and lives, often
using oral indigenous histories. Furthermore, her documentary
films explore how the Latina/o/x community navigates several U.S.
social, political, and economic institutions.
What film have you seen the most?
Selena
Who would you cast to play you in a film?
Alexa Demie
Marilyn's Film: Plantas Sin Fronteras
Instagram: @artistaoliva

11. Juanita Umana
Juanita is a filmmaker from Bogota, Colombia based in Atlanta,
Georgia. Her films and documentaries explore the personal and
subtle moments of family life with a focus on social commentary.
When she’s not directing or writing her own films, she enjoys
working as a camera assistant and production assistant.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
If you want good things to happen, you have to change your
mindset and make yourself believe that it will happen.
Describe your community in three words.
Unconditional supporting love
Juanita's Film: Before the World Was Big
Instagram: @juanita_umana