Meet the Fellows

Cortiana Barnes is a filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. Originally from Houston, TX, she came to Austin to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where she graduated with a B.S. in Radio-Television-Film with a focus in directing. During her time on campus, she co-founded and served as President of the Black Film Student Association, an organization focused on building relationships and creating safe spaces for Black film majors and enthusiasts. Working on film and television sets, across Texas, and on her own independent film projects, she has gained all around experience in directing, filming, and editing. You can watch Cortiana’s full-length film here.

Hypatia Sorunke (she/they) is a multimedia artist based in Austin, Texas. She has been able to combine her passions of storytelling and visual art through her photography, cinematography, and writing. Her artistic approach is best summed up by the Franz Fanon quote,“ I am not a prisoner of History… In the world I am heading for, I am endlessly creating myself,” from Black Skin, White Masks. She often revisits this mantra to ground herself in the endless possibilities she imagines of the future, as her artistic process centers play that is led by imagination and followed by their body. As a graduate from the University of Texas at Austin with a Plan II Honors and African and African Diaspora Studies dual degree with a minor in Government, she is interested in understanding the ways that identity, culture, and space intersect. She hopes that by centering blackness and queerness, she can create a visual world we can all live in. You can watch Hypatia’s full-length film here.

Isaiah Thomas is an independent filmmaker from Denver Colorado with a passion for teaching kids how to tell stories through a camera lens. When he isn’t teaching kids he is focused on creating and telling stories through all creative mediums, from digital art to photography. A recent graduate of Metropolitan College and Pickens College, Isaiah studied graphic design and fine arts. He is using his education to find peace in creating and teaching. You can watch Isaiah’s full-length film here.

Ling Yu (Mary) Yan is a filmmaker currently based in New York with experience writing/directing/producing for various short format narrative work. She is a senior at The Johns Hopkins University. Having been raised between China, Canada and the United States, Ling Yu gravitates towards stories that showcase intersections of cultures and ideas. She enjoys using strong colors and prominent, stylized visual storytelling in her films. Her debut short film The Kitchen is currently in post-production. You can watch Ling Yu’s full-length film here.

Spencer Tsang is a young director-filmmaker out of Sacramento, California currently based in Los Angeles. His work straddles the lines of art, social impact, and the niche things that he loves and is curious by. The 1st generation child of Chinese Immigrants, he hopes to contribute his own perspective of storytelling to the table of representation in entertainment. With his newly founded production company ‘Lucky Rabbit Pictures,’ Spencer will continue to bring people together and grow over the love of motion pictures. He is currently completing a degree in Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of San Francisco which he plans to engage towards a future career in producing. His passions include and are not limited to cooking, mentorship, basketball, and writing. To reach Spencer, he can be contacted at luckyrabbitpictures@gmail.com. You can watch Spencer’s full-length film here.