(L to R) Thien Dinh, Caron Creighton, and Sara Husain Chishti. Headshots courtesy of Brown Girls Doc Mafia
Brown Girls Doc Mafia, commonly referred to as BGDM, has officially announced the 2025 cohort of the Sustainable Artist Fellowship. The fellowship—which is supported this year by the Michael Latt Legacy Fund—supports early to mid-career filmmakers whose projects have a focus on impact-driven narratives. It had its inaugural cohort in 2020, was put on a brief pause in 2023, and is now launching the third edition with a renewed purpose as BGDM approaches its 10-year anniversary later this fall.
This year’s Sustainable Artist Fellows are Thien Dinh, Sara Husain Chishti, and Caron Creighton. Each received US$7,500 in funding, in a combination of unrestricted grants and professional development funds. They will also receive personalized impact consulting and peer mentorship through BDGM’s other programs. Award-winning producer Mars Verrone (Union), who participated in the fellowship in 2023, called the experience “a lifeline, providing not just resources but a community that understands and uplifts my creative vision.”
According to a prepared statement from BGDM, “this year’s fellows embody the organization’s commitment to centering marginalized communities, speaking truth to power, and envisioning collective liberation through documentary film with diverse projects rooted in social justice and activism.”
Founded in 2015, Brown Girls Doc Mafia (which Documentary profiled in 2022) is a large, 5000+ member, global collective of BIPOC female and gender-expansive nonfiction filmmakers. BGDM’s mission is to nurture and uplift the creative and professional success of these filmmakers through artist and community support as well as advocacy and impact initiatives.
More information about this year’s selected filmmakers and their projects can be found below. These bios and film synopses have been provided by BGDM.
Thien Dinh (they/them)
Philadelphia, PA | Cultural worker, artist, filmmaker
Thien holds a degree in public policy and has a decade of experience in labor and community organizing. Their work focuses on art that inspires people to take action and promotes social justice. Thien’s short documentary STORIES FROM THE HEART OF PUBLIC EDUCATION was an official selection at the 2024 Bridgeport Film Festival and won “Best Film from the Frontlines” at the 2024 Workers Unite Film Festival.
Project: Through Our Hands (working title)
A feature-length documentary that reframes the image of the American working class through the lens of AAPI laborers, blending personal stories with U.S. labor history and posing a pressing question: Who is the American working class?
Sara Husain Chishti
New York, NY | Filmmaker and producer
Sara is a Film and Media Studies graduate of Johns Hopkins University whose work amplifies underrepresented stories of resilience. She produced Exodus (SXSW 2025) and Mama Fela, both directed by Nimco Sheikhaden. She recently wrapped as an associate producer on the HBO series Eyes on the Prize (directed by Geeta Gandbhir) and worked on Firelight’s San Juan Hill: Manhattan's Lost Neighborhood.
Project: Taxi Driver
An intimate look at New York City’s immigrant taxi workers as they navigate crippling debt, relentless exploitation, and a city-sanctioned medallion lending scheme that has left their community in financial ruin, all to reclaim their humanity and the American Dream.
Caron Creighton
Bay Area, CA | Journalist and documentary filmmaker
Caron is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker who has worked for The Associated Press, AJ+, KCBS Radio, and The San Francisco Chronicle, and has lectured at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. She has reported on the struggles faced by Eritrean migrants in Israel and West African migration through Latin America. Her work often centers displacement across the African diaspora, informed by her lived experience.
Project: Wood Street
Two unhoused men turned community leaders— John and LaMonté —organize their neighbors in the face of displacement, addiction, and a failing social system.
Grace Gordon is an amateur cultural critic based in Los Angeles.