Concordia Studio has chosen 4 filmmakers for its 2025 Documentary Filmmaker Fellowship, a prestigious artist improvement program cultivated inside the impartial movie and tv manufacturing studio co-founded by Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim.
The fellows, chosen on the premise of “excellence in craft, collaboration, and cinematic exploration of unknown worlds,” are Contessa Gayles, Jason M. Harper, Mohammed Naqvi, and Jennifer Tiexiera. Learn extra in regards to the filmmakers under.
“At a time of speedy and dramatic adjustments in our movie ecosystem, one factor has remained constant; the brilliant mild of inventive creativeness of filmmakers like these,” commented Rahdi Taylor, EVP of The Concordia Fellowship. “That’s why we imagine that now greater than ever, inventive, strategic, monetary and convening assist may help visionary filmmakers chart their course to the long run.”
Fellowship candidates are eligible for consideration by direct invitation and personal nomination solely, Concordia Studio notes. “Nominators for the 2025 Fellowship class included business veterans from CAAM and True/False Movie Competition, representing this system’s dedication to numerous storytellers and regional voices in documentaries.”
Present Documentary Filmmaker Fellows embody Rita Baghdad (Sirens, My Nation No Extra); Edward R. Buckles Jr. (Katrina Infants); Jarrod Cann (Good White Individuals); Lindsey Dryden (The Callers, Misplaced and Sound); Twiggy Pucci Garçon (MnM); Tracy Jarrett (Sufferer/Suspect, The Hearth That Took Her), and Cinque Northern (Angola Do You Hear Us?).
Alums of the fellowship incude Elizabeth Lo, whose documentary Mistress Dispeller was just lately acquired by Oscilloscope Laboratories; Isabel Castro, whose documentary Selena y Los Dinos premiered at Sundance, which Netflix has been circling; Oscar nominee Garrett Bradley (Time); Oscar nominee Bing Liu (Minding the Hole); two-time Oscar nominee Smriti Mundhra (I Am Prepared, Warden; St. Louis Superman); Oscar nominee Christine Turner (The Barber of Little Rock), and Dominque Ulloa, editor of We Must Speak about Cosby and Surviving R. Kelly.
‘Deaf President Now!’
Concordia Studio
Concordia Studio’s newest venture is Deaf President Now!, co-directed by Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim, which premiered on the Sundance Movie Competition. The movie will debut on Apple TV+ on Might 16.
2025 FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS
CONTESSA GAYLES
Contessa Gayles is an award-winning filmmaker who tells tales about id, therapeutic, Black liberation and the novel creativeness. Her characteristic documentary-visual album, Songs From the Gap (2024, SXSW) gained the Viewers Award at SXSW. The movie earned an IDA Award Nomination and gained the 2025 Cinema Eye Honors Heterodox Award. The Debutantes premiered in documentary competitors on the 2024 Tribeca Movie Competition and her brief Founder Ladies (2023, Tribeca) broadcast on BET. Previously a journalist at CNN, she directed and produced award-winning non-fiction together with the characteristic documentary, The Feminist on Cellblock Y. She has been supported by Influence Companions, IDA, Sundance Institute, Movie Unbiased, Firelight Media, Hen & Egg Movies, Queen Collective, SFFILM, BAVC, Open Society Foundations and plenty of others. She is a 2025 ConcordiaFellow.
JASON HARPER
Jason (J.M.) Harper is an editor and director who makes use of his inventive voice to bend the worlds and mix the genres of artwork, movie, and hip hop throughout documentary shorts, options, and sequence. He made his directorial debut with As We Converse (2024, Sundance, Paramount+), which artfully explores the usage of rap lyrics in legal trials. His critically acclaimed enhancing credit embody the Emmy-nominated Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy (2022, Sundance, Netflix), A Child From Coney Island (2019, Netflix) and Down a Darkish Stairwell (2020, PBS, Criterion Channel), in addition to the brief Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma (2021, Sundance and SXSW). Jason was just lately named to DOC NYC’s 40 Beneath 40 listing in 2024. He’s a 2025 Concordia Fellow.
MOHAMMED NAQVI
Mohammed “Mo” Naqvi is an award-winning filmmaker who grew up between Pakistan and the US. His movies study high-stakes world points, typically involving unprecedented entry to environments and people. He directed Emmy nominated movies The Accused: Damned or Devoted? (2020, PBS World) and Among the many Believers (2015, PBS World), and his documentary Pakistan’s Hidden Disgrace gained the U.N Affiliation Competition Grand Jury prize (2014, Channel 4 UK). Naqvi acquired the inaugural Tv Academy Honor for his movie Disgrace (2006, Showtime), and was a co-executive producer on two seasons of the Netflix Unique sequence Turning Level. Mo has been nominated for an Unbiased Spirit Award, a Cinema Eye Honor, and the UNESCO-FELLINI Prize. He’s a member of AMPAS and a 2025 Concordia Fellow.
JENNIFER TIEXIERA
Jennifer Tiexiera is an award-winning filmmaker famous for her insightful and ground-breaking inventive collaborations with movie contributors and different creatives. Her newest documentary Converse had its world premiere in U.S. Competitors on the 2025 Sundance Movie Competition. Tiexiera just lately directed the three-part sequence Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo for HBO (2022, Emmy and a duPont-Columbia Award nominee). Her documentary Topic explored the life-altering expertise of sharing one’s life on display screen (2022, Tribeca), and he or she co-directed P.S. Burn this Letter Please (2021, Tribeca, OutFest Viewers Award) a few forgotten a part of LGBTQ+ historical past in NYC. Tiexiera is a co-founder of Girl & Chicken, and a proud member of Brown Ladies Doc Mafia, DPA, IDA, LatinX Administrators, Ladies in Movie, and Movie Fatales. She is a 2025 Concordia Fellow.
