NEW ORLEANS (press release) – The New Orleans Film Society (NOFS) announced eight producers from across the South will participate in the 2024 Southern Producers Lab produced by the New Orleans Film Society this May. The New Orleans Film Society’s filmmaker programs uplift Southern, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, women and/or gender non-conforming emerging and mid-career filmmakers with funding as well as access to creative workshops, mentorship, critical feedback, and ongoing alum services after their program involvement. Read more about the Southern Producers Lab here neworleansfilmsociety.org/southern-producers-lab/.
The 2024 Southern Producers Lab (SPL) fellows include Ái Vuong (Austin, TX), Bridgette Cyr (Richmond, VA), Carolyn Purnell (Marshall, TX), Daniel Fabelo (Austin, TX), Katie Pham (New Orleans, LA), Moya Johnson (Atlanta, GA), Rashada Fortier (New Orleans, LA), and Victoria Bouloubasis (Durham, NC).
This year’s SPL cohort will take shape within a retreat-style environment held at Docville Farm in St. Bernard Parish. This retreat-style setting will enable fellows to establish deep connections with their cohort as they immerse themselves in the workshops, advising, and offsite activities designed to enhance their projects. Additionally, participants will engage in thought partnership with a number of experienced industry professionals and award-winning producers. The curriculum will explore the many different types of producing roles that exist as well as how to sustain a filmmaking career in the US South in this unique economic climate. At the completion of the lab, NOFS will award lab participants $2000 each to support their work.
This year’s SPL cohort and the Emerging Voices Directors Lab cohort will also convene during the 2023 New Orleans Film Festival with passes and support for travel and lodging.
Maren Scott, Coordinator of NOFS Filmmaker Services said: “As we reimagine our lab structure and impact, we are thrilled to have the 2024 Southern Producers Lab curated and facilitated by Emmy- and Webby Award–winning producer Angela Tucker. Angela, a powerhouse filmmaker, member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and NOFS program alum (South Pitch ’18) will lend her extensive expertise and insight during our first in-person edition of SPL since 2019. We hope to continue to welcome back alumni as mentors and collaborators in our efforts to further develop a more robust Southern film ecosystem.”
The Southern Producers Lab is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the Ford Foundation; Perspective Fund; the MacArthur Foundation; and the Meraux Foundation.
Southern Producers Lab 2024 Fellows and Projects
ÁI VUONG
Ái Vuong is a Vietnamese-born and Texas-bred filmmaker. She co-founded TÁPI Story in 2018, a production company that focuses on human-centered stories told from a systemic perspective with compassion, empathy and dignity. In 2021, TÁPI Story was awarded a Silver Telly for their short film, “Remember Love,” documenting the memories of the orphaned children of the war on drugs in the Philippines. “La Cosecha,” a short documentary she produced and co-wrote, premiered at SXSW as part of the Texas Shorts Competition in 2023. Her films have been showcased internationally, along with recent screenings at CineFestival (San Antonio, TX) and the Austin Asian American Film Festival. She was also a fellow for PBS Reel South Hindsight 2.0, and recently produced and directed an independent short documentary about Boca Chica beach, the “poor people’s beach,” and community members spearheading the fight against big tech in South Texas that premiered at Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival and also screened at the New Orleans Film Festival. Ái was named a Tory Burch Foundation Fellow in 2023. Prior to receiving a master’s of NGO Management and Public Policy from NYU, she worked in Vietnam for 6 years on youth development and leadership. She served as the Executive Director of a local NGO in Vietnam called the Friends of Hue Foundation.
Project: La Concierge de Azule (Documentary Short)
As “Radical, French, Appalachian Hillbilly” Camille Shaffer turns 80, she reflects on her life, art, and death at her home “Azule”—a house on a hill in the heart of Appalachia. Directed by Samuel Diaz Fernandez.
BRIDGETTE CYR
Bridgette Cyr is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, video journalist, and audio producer based in Richmond, VA. Film collaborations have taken her to a Q-Anon rally in Tampa, Florida; the bedroom of a revenge porn victim; the recording studio of feminist hip hop artists in Havana, Cuba; and to the hideout of a North Carolina woman as she sought refuge in sanctuary, fearful of deportation. As of late, her work has a focus on access to education, healthcare, and LGBTQIA+ rights in the rapidly evolving American South.
She is the Director of Photography and Producer of PICKUP (2023), a short fiction film about a rideshare to the airport that takes an unsettling turn. She is also the Director of Photography and Associate Producer of SANTUARIO (2018), which won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short at the New Orleans Film Festival. She was among 12 selected for the Investigative Reporting Workshop for Filmmakers at UC Berkeley in 2018. Her work has been screened at festivals around the country and was broadcast on UNC-TVs program Reel South, and Al Jazeera’s Witness program. She holds a Master’s in Visual Communication from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a Roy H. Park Fellow. Before returning to school, she was the Artistic Services Coordinator at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Currently, she is editing a short documentary film about a quick-talking mule trader in Vicksburg, Mississippi, using archival footage filmed in the 1970s.
Project: MEANT TO BE MADDIE (Documentary Feature)
MEANT TO BE MADDIE documents the challenges and triumphs of a North Carolina family fighting to protect their transgender daughter. Directed by Anna Clare Spelman.
CAROLYN PURNELL
Carolyn Purnell is a historian, producer, and the author of two books: Blue Jeans (2023) and The Sensational Past: How the Enlightenment Changed the Way We Use Our Senses (2017). In 2023, Carolyn wrote and produced the short film “Pasture Prime,” which was supported by the Austin Film Society and nominated for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. She also participated in the 2023 South Pitch program at the New Orleans Film Festival as the producer for the narrative feature PEACE BE UPON YOU, and her historical feature THE EXCHANGE was selected as a quarterfinalist for Final Draft’s Big Break Screenwriting Contest.
Project: Peace Be Upon You (Narrative Feature)
A Muslim couple moves to East Texas on the eve of the apocalypse. Directed by Diffan Sina Norman.
DANIEL FABELO
Daniel Fabelo is an award-winning, Latino filmmaker originally from Austin, Texas. He graduated from UT Austin with an RTF degree and, for a time, he was a writer/director for online powerhouse, Rooster Teeth. There, he directed numerous web series, documentaries, and the sci-fi comedy feature, Lazer Team 2. In 2019, he was a story producer for the Immersion: Shark Week Special for the Discovery Channel. His latest directorial effort, “El Gato Feo,” is a historical drama about the women who fought in the Mexican Revolution. The short film, which he also produced, premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival and has gone on to play numerous others including the New York Latino Film Festival and the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival in Mallorca, Spain.
Project: Juana Pelos (Narrative Short)
It’s the first day of school and Juana is facing the worst fear of every Latina puberty: she’s getting hairy. Directed by Maria Mealla.
KATIE PHAM
Katie Pham is a first generation Vietnamese-American born and raised in New Orleans, and provides operational, producing, and archival support at Gusto Moving Pictures. Recently released projects include being Associate Producer on Commuted (dir. Nailah Jefferson, New Orleans Film Festival 2023), Under G-d (dir. Paula Eiselt, Sundance 2023), and The Neutral Ground (dir. CJ Hunt, Tribeca 2021). She is the Co-Producer on Roleplay (dir. Katie Mathews, SXSW 2024) and currently supporting production on The Gardeners (dir. Crystal Kayiza), Chinatown Down South (dir. Nancy Lauland), and The First Plantation (dir. Jason Fitzroy Jeffers). She also has experience in film festival operations, at festivals including the New Orleans Film Festival and Overlook Film Festival. Katie is a graduate of Loyola University, with a double major in Criminology and Entertainment Industry Studies and a minor in Mass Communications.
Project: Chinatown Down South (Documentary Short)
CHINATOWN DOWN SOUTH explores the little known story of New Orleans’ Chinatown and the current generation of Chinese New Orleanians who are carrying on the spirit of Chinatown. Directed by Nancy Quant Lauland.
MOYA JOHNSON
Moya Johnson is a producer and writer with over 10 years of experience in TV and film. Johnson’s passion for storytelling began as a teenager in Cairo, Georgia, writing published short stories about her family for various platforms. As a young writer, Johnson’s career blossomed and she worked as a TV news producer while in college. Johnson studied journalism at Florida A&M University, later working as a journalist at local news stations across the country, CNN and NBC News. After an extensive career in broadcast, Johnson pivoted to producing documentaries, short films, and unscripted television. With a love for music, nature, and travel, Johnson founded South Broad Street Productions in 2023. Her goal is to tell diverse stories, with diverse filmmakers for diverse audiences. Johnson’s current projects include the short film “The Off Brands,” a docu-series called Return of the Wax and En Route, a music series.
Project: The Off-Brands (Narrative Short)
A quirky teenager with Sickle Cell tries to climb the social hierarchy ladder at her South Carolina high school. Directed by Shayla Racquel.
RASHADA FORTIER
Rashada Fortier is a queer, New Orleans–based producer. Her aim is to support work that focuses on narratives centered around marginalized women protagonists, particularly women of color. She seeks to combat the idea that projects centering women of color are in any way niche, and instead works to highlight the importance and relatability of their experiences. She especially wishes to explore these narratives in genres that have traditionally regulated people of color to small or bit roles, such as horror and sci-fi. Rashada holds a B.A. in Communications specializing in film and television from Seton Hall University, and an MFA in film from the University of New Orleans. Rashada currently works as an assistant production coordinator in the film industry. She also serves as a narrative shorts programmer for both the New Orleans and Atlanta Film Festivals. “Mama Love,” which she produced with Mary McDade, premiered at the New Orleans Film Festival in 2023 and won an Audience Award for Best Louisiana Narrative Short.
Project: Quake Thunder Crack (Narrative Feature)
A pregnant woman visits her partner’s oppressive religious family for the first time. Directed by Mary McDade.
VICTORIA BOULOUBASIS
Victoria Bouloubasis (producer) is an award-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated filmmaker based in Durham, N.C. Her work aims to dispel myths about the Global South—its people and places—against the backdrop of complex social, political, and personal histories. She often tells stories at the intersection of food, labor, and im/migration. Victoria has reported from the U.S. South and rural Midwest, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Greece.
Project: Lo Mejor Está Por Venir (Documentary Feature)
A formerly undocumented pastor organizes for Latinx rights—while his daughter seeks answers about their own migration. “Lo Mejor Está Por Venir” follows Daniel Sostaita building a permanent home for migrants despite state efforts to render them invisible. Directed by Barbara Sostaita and Alex Morelli.
For more information about the New Orleans Film Society Filmmaker Labs, please visit: