Courtesy of A-Doc
The Asian American Documentary Network, colloquially known as A-Doc, announces four AAPI Futures Impact Producer Fellows in advance of a cohort retreat at this weekend’s CAAMfest. This is the second year of the fellowship, after an inaugural cohort in 2024.
A joint initiative between A-Doc and Asian American Futures, the fellowship supports impact producers of new documentaries with a $17,000 grant toward their film’s impact campaign and a holistic training program from April–December 2025. The application theme was “AAPI Legacy.” Projects were selected for their potential to “center AAPI communities that highlight solidarity frameworks, actively fight stereotypes, and amplify stories of abundance” and “hold the potential to reach a broad AAPI stretch audiences, including people who are earlier on in their political development,” according to a press release.
A-Doc and Asian American Futures representatives both praised the collaboration. “Through this partnership with A-Doc, we’re investing in impact producers who understand that our legacy isn’t just what we inherit—it’s what we build together. These four exceptional fellows represent the next generation of culture bearers who are using film to build a better future,” says Eunice Kwon, director of programs and partnerships at Asian American Futures.
A-Doc Impact Initiative Co-Lead PJ Raval concurs, “We are proud to partner with Asian American Futures, and other AAPI organizations, to uplift visionary impact producers and films that share powerful stories of AAPI legacy, moving us toward a more just and equitable society. Through the AAPI Futures Impact Fellowship, we continue to nurture the transformative power of documentary storytelling to inspire lasting change.”
A-Doc was established at Getting Real ’16, and has since blossomed into a robust 1800+ member network of locally organized meetups, knowledge-sharing, peer networking, and artist development activities, including the Impact Initiative.
Read below for more information about selected filmmakers and their projects. Bios and film synopses were provided by A-Doc.
Yennie Lee brings nearly 15 years of experience in philanthropy, design, social innovation, and storytelling for social change, having worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IDEO, and Participant Media. She has led award-winning social impact campaigns for both narrative and documentary films, including Dark Waters (Focus Features), American Utopia (HBO), Final Account (Focus Features), Found (Netflix), The Right to Read (Tribeca Films), and Slumlord Millionaire (PBS). Yennie is a proud second-generation Korean American and Californian—born in Oakland, raised in Berkeley, and now based in Los Angeles. She is an Advisory Council Member for the Corita Art Center.
Slumlord Millionaire: Directed and produced by Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez, and produced by Nicole Tsien, Slumlord Millionaire is a feature documentary about gentrification and the U.S. housing crisis. The film follows the stories of 7 tenants in New York City—each a David vs. Goliath battle that exposes the human toll of gentrification, the lack of accountability and fair representation in city politics and policy, the widening wealth gap between billionaires and everyone else, and the promise of what is possible when we organize together.
The Slumlord Millionaire Impact Campaign seeks to highlight the growing national housing crisis; to accelerate the movement to protect housing and tenants rights across the U.S.; and to mobilize voters to support rent reforms. Specific to the AAPI community, the film’s impact campaign will help strengthen intra-racial class solidarity and dismantle the “housing model minority myth,” which makes millions of AAPI tenants' everyday struggle invisible and underserved in our country's largest cities.
Reina Bonta is a Filipina American award-winning filmmaker and professional football player from the Bay Area. Her narrative short film and directorial debut, “LAHI”, toured Academy Award-Qualifying film festivals, won the audience award at San Diego Filipino Film Festival, and secured national streaming distribution in 2024. Reina was an Archival Producer for Judy Blume Forever (Sundance 2023), and is receiving her first Executive Producer credit for a timely feature film in post-production about AAPI activism in NYC. Reina has had her photography featured in world-renowned publications including Forbes Magazine, and her writing has been published by ESPN. She is also a professional soccer player, who represented the Philippines in their debut at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and she has spent the past two years abroad competing in Brazil’s first division league. Reina comes from a family of Filipino and Puerto Rican activists, which deeply informs all of her pursuits as a storyteller. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Film and Media Studies with distinction from Yale University.
Maybe It’s Just The Rain: At the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a diasporic, underdog group of young women represented the Philippines at the country’s maiden appearance on the global stage. Despite all odds, they emerged as the tournament “dark horse,” writing history by beating the hosts on enemy soil, and netting the first goal to ever be scored at the World Cup for their country. Through the lens of team center back, Reina, Maybe It’s Just the Rain is a short documentary film that explores this cornerstone moment in Filipino sports, and an intimate trip between granddaughter and grandmother to her lola's province in the Philippines, underscoring what representing the Filipino flag at the World Cup truly means to the diasporic Filipinas team.
Despite this historic campaign, the public doubted this milestone for the Filipinas, notoriously dismissing it as “lucky.” Today, we face a crisis of inaccessibility for and discouragement towards girls in the traditionally male-dominated AAPI/Filipino athletics space, despite the strides that elite Filipina athletes have made on the international stage. The MIJTR Impact Campaign seeks to close the gaping hole in Filipino girls grassroots football programs, by implementing a three-pronged approach: a full-day “professional football experience” camp for youth girls in the Filipino province of Dumaguete, a revitalized soccer pitch, fitted it with a mural of Filipina athlete icons, and the creation of a digital zine of short stories, recounting true first-hand anecdotes from young Filipina athletes that will be accessible to wider audiences. It will foster both a long-lasting healthy physical environment, inviting more young girls onto the football pitch, as well as a necessary shift in the misogynistic model of AAPI/Philippine athletics through a digital asset designed to inspire empathy and change.
Carlo Velayo is a Film Independent Spirit Award-nominated Producer, a Berlinale VFF Talent Highlight Awardee, and the inaugural San Francisco Film New American Fellow. Carlo has produced two narrative features, including Isabel Sandoval’s Lingua Franca and Jessica M. Thompson’s The Light of the Moon. In the non-fiction space, Carlo was Senior Producer on Michele Josue’s Netflix Original documentary series Happy Jail and is collaborating again with Michele on the documentary feature Nurse Unseen.
Nurse Unseen is a feature documentary that explores the little-known history and humanity of the unsung Filipino-American nurses who risked their lives on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic while facing a resurgence of anti-Asian hate in the streets.
The impact campaign focuses on the mental healthcare of nurses by using a screening of Nurse Unseen to encourage personal reflection in guided talking circles, developed and led by trained mental health professionals.
Lan Dinh is the co-founder and co-executive director of VietLead, a grassroots organization serving Vietnamese and Southeast Asian (SEA) communities in Philadelphia and South Jersey. A daughter of Vietnamese refugees, she grew up in West Philadelphia and Upper Darby, drawing inspiration from her parents’ resilience and land stewardship. Since 2015, Lan has worked to build intergenerational leadership, advance land and food sovereignty, and mobilize SEA communities. She has trained over 500 young organizers through VietLead’s youth leadership program and managed its half-acre community farm, fostering connections between communities of color, land, and storytelling.
Taking Root: In 2025, the U.S. will mark 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War and its involvement in Laos and Cambodia—a defining moment in Southeast Asian (SEA) history. While often framed as a “successful” refugee resettlement, the reality is that SEA communities continue to endure systemic poverty, criminalization, deportation, and generational trauma rooted in U.S. military intervention and failed resettlement policies. Taking Root is a community-organizer-produced documentary series that amplifies these stories. Told over four episodes, the series unpacks the refugee experience, providing critical historical context for Southeast Asians in the U.S. while mobilizing present and future generations to engage in racial and economic justice.
The Taking Root Tour, organized by the Southeast Asian Freedom Network (SEAFN), will use community-driven storytelling and organizing to mobilize SEA communities in support of the Southeast Asian Relief and Responsibility (SEARR) Campaign—a federal policy platform demanding U.S. accountability for its role in the wars in Southeast Asia and an end to SEA deportations.