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In 2022, CAPE joined forces with Janet Yang Productions to form the Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge to provide short film production grants to four filmmakers in an effort to support Asian and Pacific Islander Women and Non-Binary stories. The grant is supported and named after philanthropist Julia S. Gouw with additional support from Asian Women Leadership in Philanthropy Fund.
Four grantees are provided with a grant of $25K USD each as well as additional resources to make their short film possible. In addition, the grantees will be offered unparalleled networking opportunities with Emmy Award- and Golden Globe-winning Hollywood producer Janet Yang and the CAPE network as well as access to high-level industry professionals including agents, managers, producers and studio executives and more. The 2025 to 2026 submission cycle with mark a 5 year milestone of the Challenge.
Past short films supported by the Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge grant have been selected and screened at many prestigious festivals globally including Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Annecy Festival, Cannes Film Festival and more.
YEAR 5 | 2026 GRANTEES
KESHNI KASHYAP NILSSON
“The Shoe Burglars”
Keshni Kashyap Nilsson (she/her) is a filmmaker, screenwriter and award-winning author of the graphic novel “Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary”, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The book won the APALA Best Young Adult Book of the Year and received starred trade and national reviews. Born in Singapore and raised in Los Angeles to Indian parents, Keshni was a staff writer on Netflix’s Emmy-nominated comedy Special. She adapted “Pride & Prejudice” for 20th TV (with all South Asian characters) and has sold and and developed TV projects with Netflix, Chernin Entertainment, ABC Signature, Sonar, Calamity Jane, Unapologetic Projects, Kindred Spirit and Third Culture Content. She graduated from Berkeley and UCLA’s Directing MFA where her short films have screened in dozens of festivals around the world. Keshni is an alum of the WGA 2022 Showrunner Training Program and is repped by Haven Entertainment and Gang Tyre Ramer Brown.
THE SHOE BURGLAR (Live-action) | At her sister’s Indian wedding, a rebellious teen orchestrates an elaborate heist to steal the groom’s shoes—only to discover that what she’s really fighting is the fear of losing her sister.
NAYON CHO
“Stigma”
Nayon Cho (she/her) is a Korean animation director based in New York and Seoul. She is interested in the profound synergy between societal friction and the inner psyche. Her work uses a blend of traditional and digital drawings to sublimate complex, hidden emotions into visceral animations. She has directed projects for Adult Swim, Netflix, Hulu (winning a Webby Award), with her work screening at major international festivals. Her upcoming short film, “Stigma”, won the ARTE Award for Best Script at the Annecy Festival’s MIFA Pitches and was developed at The Animation Workshop residency in Denmark.
Stigma (Animation) | A lonely teenage girl rebels in search of connection after her father’s death. When her charismatic uncle visits from America, she finally feels seen – until one night changes everything.
PATRICIA LEE
“Wasted Resources”
Patricia (P.H.) Lee (she/her) is a filmmaker based in Oakland, CA. She previously worked in sustainable architecture, where she used the power of storytelling to convince real estate owners to care about climate change. She brings this experience and her childhood penchant for writing morbid fairy tales to her screenplays exploring how we make decisions in the face of frightening change. Her first short script, Hannah’s Biography, gained her a spot as an SFFILM resident in 2021 and 2022. The film went on to play at SFFILM International Film Festival and CAAMfest. Her next short Wasted Resources is in pre-production.
Wasted Resources (Live-action) | In a post-climate-disaster world a young girl and her father must face their tragic past when a stranger arrives in their subsistence collective with the last karaoke machine on Earth.
TIFFANY LIN
“Hunger”
Tiffany Lin (she/her) is a Taiwanese American filmmaker born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, currently based in Los Angeles. A graduate of USC’s film production program, Tiffany has worked extensively across live action and animation. Her writing and directing work has been recognized at several Oscar-qualifying festivals including the Student Academy Awards, Urbanworld Film Festival, and Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival; her editing work has also played at festivals like SXSW, Tribeca, and Slamdance. Tiffany was a 2023-2024 Film Independent LAIKA Project Involve fellow. Through her work, she aspires to tell emotionally honest stories in unconventional ways.
Hunger (Live-action) | Deep in the mountains, an inn-keeping vampire meets a lonely traveler, both hungry for something the other might be able to provide.
2026 FINALISTS
SONG HÀ's work and life explores the acts of alchemy and devotion she grew up with as a child of war refugees. She hails from shamans, mediums, and spiritual leaders. She is a Netflix Trans Film Center Fellow and a Queer|Art Fellow. Most recently her work has screened with Balice Hertling in Paris and Newfest in New York. Her writing has appeared in Elle, Esquire, and POETRY, among others. She curated A Lotus Blooming in a Sea of Fire at apexart NYC. She is a Norman Mailer Prize recipient
JOT SAHI is a filmmaker and writer based in Brooklyn. Previously, she served as an associate producer at Multitude Films, working on documentaries like Power (Netflix) and How We Get Free (HBO). Jot is the writer and co-director of Mother Tongue, selected for the 2025 Tasveer x Netflix Film Fund and the 2025 Sundance TAAF Scholarship. Driven by a commitment to stories that have the potential to change minds and hearts, Jot is currently pursuing a J.D. at the Cardozo School of Law, where she hopes to expand her advocacy and storytelling toolkit. She holds a BFA from NYU Tisch.
LOGAN ALCOSIBA is a transgender Asian Pasifika filmmaker from the San Francisco Bay Area. She wrote, executive produced, and starred in her debut short film “Amid the Noise & Haste” (WINNER: Queer ed Ora Award, 2026 Bref International Short Film Festival). In development, her sophomore film Leaving Flowers (Director and Screenwriter) garnered support from the 2025 HIFILM Storytellers Lab, 2025 Sundance Trans Possibilities Intensive, and 2026 HIFILM Producers Lab. She has further embraced lead roles in “A Night Out” and “Try This On”, which premiered at the 2026 NFFTY. She continues to create films that spark joy and conversation.
MEET OUR 2026 JURY
AUL’I CRAVALHO
Actor + Producer
MOANA
CHRIS QUINTOS CATHCART
Co-CEO
UNAPOLOGETIC PROJECTS
LIZ SARGENT
Director + Screenwriter
TAKE ME HOME
SAMANTHA QUAN
Actor + Producer
ANORA
YERIN HA
Actor
BRIDGERTON
In addition, for the final round of the Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge, finalists were required to direct a short visual piece with a minimalist 4-lin script provided by Sundance Award-winning Director and Screenwriter BETH DE ARAÚJO (JOSEPHINE).
PAST GRANTEES
YEAR 4 | 2025 GRANTEES
CAMI KWAN
“Paper Daughter”
Website: camikwan.wixsite.com/director
NADINE JIN
“Silent Voices”
Website: nadinejin.com
RACHEL LEYCO
“Milk & Honey”
Website: officialrachelleyco.com
SUHASHINI KRISHNAN
“Two Questions and a Wish”
Website: tinytitanproductions.com
YEAR 3 | 2024 GRANTEES
DIA FRAMPTON
“You Have Arrived”
Website: diamusic.net
JILL SACHS
“Taga”
Website: jillsachs.com
LINDSAY WATSON
“What We Carry”
RADHA MEHTA
“Sūnna”
Website: radhamehta.com
YEAR 2 | 2023 GRANTEES
DOROTHY XIAO
“Only in This World”
Official website: dorxiao.com
KRISTY CHOI
“You Left Me a Ghost”
Official website:
kristy-choi.com
RIPPIN SINDHER
“Flight 182”
Official website: sindherella.com
SHRUTI PAREKH
“Zari”
Official website: shrutiparekh.com
YEAR 1 | 2022 GRANTEES
BANBAN CHENG
“Hearsay”
Official website: chengfilm.com
RAGINI BHASIN
“Happy Rakhi”
Official website: raginibhasin.com
FOUNDERS
JANET YANG
JANET YANG is an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning Hollywood producer and the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Yang has worked with some of the most formidable filmmakers and talent in the world. She came to prominence through her collaboration with Steven Spielberg on "Empire of the Sun" (Warner Bros). That was followed by a long partnership with multiple Academy Award-winner Oliver Stone—where she served as Executive Producer on the iconic "The Joy Luck Club" (Disney), and as a Producer on the Golden Globe-winning "The People vs. Larry Flynt" (Columbia Pictures). Her most recent credit is as an Executive Producer on the Oscar-nominated animated feature, "Over the Moon." Based on her original story, the film was directed by legendary animator Glen Keane and released on Netflix in 2020.
Among her many other credits are: the Sundance award-winning "Dark Matter" (Universal Pictures) with Meryl Streep; "The Weight of Water" (Lionsgate) directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow with Academy Award winner Sean Penn; "Savior" (Lionsgate) with Dennis Quaid; "South Central" (Warner Bros.) d; "High Crimes" (Fox) with Morgan Freeman; a Chinese adaptation of the acclaimed Disney franchise "High School Musical"; cult favorites "Zero Effect," by Jake Kasdan, and "Shanghai Calling" with China Film Group. Yang won an Emmy and Golden Globe Award for the HBO movie "Indictment: The McMartin Trial."
Most recently, Yang was named one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood” by the Hollywood Reporter, Variety's Power of Women 2023, and was featured on the Forbes 2024 “50 over 50” List.
Yang is a co-founder of GoldHouse, serves on the IMAX China Board, the Forbes APEX VIP Founding Advisory Board, and Asia Society’s Southern California Advisory Board.
Yang is the first Asian American president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and also has a pillar dedicated to her inside the Renzo Piano-designed Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Learn more at janetyang.com.
JULIA S. GOUW
JULIA S. GOUW is the Chairwoman of Piermont Bank, a commercial bank in New York. She was the former President and Chief Operating Officer of East West Bank.
Gouw was ranked one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Banking” five times by American Banker magazine and has received the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Women Making a Difference” award two times in recognition of her achievements and philanthropic contributions.
Gouw was a board member of the Trusteeship, an International Women’s Forum affiliate organization that connects preeminent women in leadership positions across various professional fields.
Gouw currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Pacific Life and VIZIO (NYSE: VZIO). She was appointed as a Commissioner of Ontario International Airport Authority (OIAA) in September 2016. The OIAA provides overall direction for the management, operations, development and marketing of Ontario International Airport in Southern California.
Gouw is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was the founding chair of Executive Advisory Board of the UCLA Women’s Health to promote women’s health both in research and medical treatments. She also endowed the UCLA Chair of Mood Disorders Research especially in women in memory of Dr. Lori Altshuler.
Born and raised in Indonesia, Gouw came to the United States in 1978 where she earned her B.S. degree in accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
