independent films.

Magic & Monsters, Director/Producer

Magic & Monsters uncovers the long-buried story of widespread sexual abuse at a world-famous childrens’ theater. The survivors search for justice offers a hopeful path for healing in the wake of trauma. (Now in post-production)

Awards & Honors:

2024 Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film Runner-up
2020 IDA Enterprise Production Grant recipient
2019 IDA Enterprise Development Grant recipient

Time For Ilhan, Director/Producer

Ilhan Omar, a young, hijab-wearing, Somali refugee mother of three, takes on two formidable opponents in a highly contested race for a seat in the Minnesota State Legislature. If successful, she will become the first Somali Lawmaker in the United States. An intimate, behind-the-scenes portrait of one of America’s brightest rising political stars.

Awards & Honors:

2018-19 Daytime EMMY Award, Directing Special Class
2019 NAACP Image Award Nominee
2018 Provincetown Film Festival HBO Feature Documentary Audeince Award
2018 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Best U.S. Feature Documentary
2018 Hot Docs Film Festival, International Premiere
2018 Tribeca Film Festival World Premiere
2017 Tribeca/A&E Story Lab, NY
2016 Catapult Film Fund Recipient

Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile, Director/Producer

A Tibetan teenager travels from Minneapolis to India to compete in a most unlikely beauty pageant. Long separated from their ancient homeland, Tibet’s exile community struggles to maintain a sense of tradition in the face of modernity, emblematic in the contradictions of the Miss Tibet pageant. While its suave organizer insists that he offers young Tibetans a chance to immerse themselves in their culture and language, critics take issue with the event’s decidedly un-Tibetan focus on outer beauty, replete with bikinis and catwalks.

2014 DOC NYC World Premiere
Educational Distribution: GOOD DOCS/Sage Publishing