Today the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the six artists participating in the Sundance Institute Trans Possibilities Intensive, taking place online from July 28–30. Now in its fourth year, the intensive is designed to uplift transgender storytellers of color developing projects in a space where they hone their skills and strengthen their practice in a community. This year’s fellows are: Logan Alcosiba, Chica Andrade, Rraine Henson, Jameson P. Murray, Jess Waters, and Grace Zhang. The 2025 cohort will participate in the three-part event with the guidance of established creative and peer advisors who include: Rhys Ernst (Adam), Luis De Filippis (Something You Said Last Night), Éri Sarmet (Vollúpya), and Mars Verrone (Union). In addition to the online component, fellows will receive direct support with project-based granting and custom creative and professional development opportunities. Fellows were selected via nominations-based applications. This year, the Institute received the most nominations in the history of the program, reflecting the continued interest in and significance of trans-led projects.

“I set out to create this program because I know, firsthand, that community is foundational, both to storytelling and to being trans. The Trans Possibilities Intensive takes this guiding principle to create opportunities and communities that are intentional, sustainable, and collaborative,” said Moi Santos, Manager of Equity, Impact, and Belonging. “Our fellows and their projects boldly, truthfully, and proudly reflect the gender diversity that makes trans storytellers vital to the world we live in. Our advisors and alumni are examples of the possibilities this program is named after, and we look forward to supporting the fellows as they forge their unique paths.”

For the next three days, fellows will take part in conversations centered and led by trans creatives, including fireside chats with their creative advisors. Their schedule will focus on key areas of craft, including group creative exercises, discipline-specific workshops, and close work with experienced creative advisors.

The Trans Possibilities Intensive will conclude with a public conversation on July 30 at 10 a.m. PT, streaming on Sundance Collab — Sundance Institute’s digital platform for artists to learn from experts and connect with a global filmmaking community. Titled Toward Trans Possibilities, the conversation will be moderated by Moi Santos, Trans Possibilities Intensive Founder, and will feature Nava Mau, the multihyphenate filmmaker behind All the Words But the One. Together, they will explore the transformative power of and possibilities that can emerge from authentic trans storytelling.

Alumni fellows include River Gallo, whose intensive-supported 2024 Sundance Film Festival feature, Ponyboi, received theatrical distribution in June; AX Mina, whose feature Rubbish: The Queer Kingdom of Leilah Babirye was a 2024 Kickstart with Canva award winner; and Kyle Casey Chu, whose intensive-supported short After What Happened at the Library received a Special Jury Award from the Florida Film Festival. Former advisors of the intensive include Lyric R. Cabral, Zackary Drucker, Roberto Fatal, Sam Feder, Yance Ford, River Gallo, Tourmaline, Ro Haber, Félix Endara, Aitch Alberto, Chase Joynt, and Sydney Freeland.

The Sundance Institute Equity, Impact, and Belonging program is made possible by support from Apple, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Gold House, THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, Golden Globe Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Netflix, WBD Access, Rotten Tomatoes, The Harnisch Foundation, Easterseals Disability Services, SAGIndie, United Airlines, Roger and Carin Ehrenberg, and an anonymous donor.

The fellows selected for the 2025 Trans Possibilities Intensive are:

Logan Alcosiba (Writer) with Leaving Flowers (U.S.A.): Inspired by the Native Hawaiian legend of ʻŌhiʻa and Lehua, when a māhūwahine meets her boyfriend’s family, their doubts prompt memories of familial loss and her deep desire for ʻohana.

Logan Alcosiba is a multiracial transgender actress, writer, and filmmaker. Her upcoming short film Amid the Noise & Haste explores the underrepresented trans experience of dysphonia. She continues to create stories rooted in love and empowerment.

Chica Andrade (Director) with House Of Hilton (Brazil): After two decades of exile, the director returns to her hometown searching for transgender friends. Learning they were murdered, she finds hope in a young Black trans woman, reigniting the fight for dignity and change in their community.

Director, screenwriter, activist for trans community rights Chica Andrade has directed documentaries for TV channels and is co-director of the series Segura Essa Pose. She is a consultant for the Brazilian Black Unspoken projects at Warner Bros.

Rraine Hanson (Writer-Director) with Transcend (Jamaica): A medley of summer memories from the eyes of a grieving father and his transmasculine son as they find solace in their reflections of one another throughout his childhood.

Rraine Hanson is a Jamaican transdisciplinary artist designing worlds through mixed media to tell stories centering the imaginations of queer people of color. His visual style is informed by surrealism and the aesthetics of his Caribbean upbringing.

Jameson P. Murray (Writer-Director) with The Starter (U.S.A.): The trans son of a recently retired NBA champion fights for a spot on his high school team to repair their bond, bringing unwanted attention for them both where a bitter New Orleans inner-city basketball rivalry explodes into national controversy.

Jameson P. Murray (he/him) is a Black, trans New Orleanian writer, director, comedian, and 2024 Disruptors Fellow. He has been seen in the New Orleans, Atlanta, and Pan African Film Festivals, and will feature in the upcoming The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays Vol. 3.

Jess Waters (Writer-Director) with Tank (U.S.A.): Overwhelmed by debt, gender dysphoria, and caring for their sick aunt, Tank finds unexpected power in committing small-time robberies disguised as the man they wish the world could see.

Jess Waters is a Black nonbinary writer-director originally hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, and currently residing in Los Angeles. Their work focuses on themes of queerness, awkwardness, and the unsettling nature of hope.

Grace Zhang (Writer-Director) with 20X8 (U.S.A.): 20X8 is a Buddhist cyberpunk family drama about three generations of a Chinese immigrant family searching for their own versions of utopia.

Grace Zhang is a filmmaker from New York whose work interweaves slice-of-life scenes with dream sequences and memories. Created with the support of their QTPOC community, their work depicts the ebbs and flows of queer existence and diasporic life.

Sundance Institute

As a champion and curator of independent stories, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists across storytelling media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Institute Collab, a digital community platform, brings a global cohort of working artists together to learn from Sundance Institute advisors and connect with each other in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Through the Sundance Institute artist programs, we have supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Big Sick, Bottle Rocket, Boys Don’t Cry, Boys State, Call Me by Your Name, Clemency, CODA, Dìdi (弟弟), Drunktown’s Finest, The Farewell, Fire of Love, Flee, Fruitvale Station, Half Nelson, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hereditary, The Infiltrators, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Little Woods, Love & Basketball, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Mudbound, Nanny, One Child Nation, Pariah, Raising Victor Vargas, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, RBG, Sin Nombre, Sorry to Bother You, Strong Island, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Swiss Army Man, A Thousand and One, Top of the Lake, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, and Zola. Through year-round artist programs, the Institute also nurtured the early careers of such artists as Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Gregg Araki, Darren Aronofsky, Lisa Cholodenko, Ryan Coogler, Nia DaCosta, The Daniels, David Gordon Green, Miranda July, James Mangold, John Cameron Mitchell, Kimberly Peirce, Boots Riley, Ira Sachs, Quentin Tarantino, Taika Waititi, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao. Support Sundance Institute in our commitment to uplifting bold artists and powerful storytelling globally by making a donation at sundance.org/donate. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Bluesky.

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MEDIA CONTACTS: Tiffany Duersch, tiffany_duersch@sundance.org; Sylvy Fernández, sylvy_fernandez@sundance.org; Alex Courides, alex_courides@sundance.org