Sundance Institute, Islamic Scholarship Fund Select Building Bridges Fellows

The Doris Duke Foundation, Sundance Institute, and Islamic Scholarship Fund announced its fourth and latest cohort of its Building Bridges Fellowship, which amplifies U.S. Muslim storytelling by providing financial and creative resources, mentorship, and support to emerging filmmakers, with a focus on uplifting U.S. Muslim narratives and fostering dialogue around themes of identity, belonging, and diversity.

Funded by the Doris Duke Foundation, the Building Bridges Fellowship aims to reduce barriers for filmmakers working on U.S. Muslim stories to hone their craft, receive mentorship from industry professionals, and access valuable resources to realize their creative vision and connect with wider audiences. In addition to an unrestricted artist grant, fellows will receive a customized slate of services tailored to their creative career and project goals, including a yearlong mentorship, a tailored Sundance Film Festival experience, a Sundance Collab Community Package, and other select professional development tools, along with access to Sundance Institute's ELEVATE program for year-round professional and project development.

This October, the fourth cohort of fellows will convene at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, New Jersey, for a retreat, bringing filmmakers together to foster community, inspire creativity, and support the artistic growth of both the fellows and their projects. Located on more than 2,700 acres, Duke Farms is a Doris Duke Foundation center dedicated to environmental stewardship, learning, and public engagement, offering fellows a distinctive setting for reflection, connection, and creative exchange. During the retreat, the cohort will engage and receive mentorship from a distinguished group of industry advisors, including historian and educator Zaheer Ali, director Dawn Porter; Munir Atalla, Head of Production & Acquisitions at Watermelon Pictures; Rohi Mirza Pandya and Gitesh Pandya Co-founders of Box Office Guru Media; and returning creative advisor Oualid Mouaness, a director, producer, and writer.

'We're thrilled to welcome our newest cohort of storytellers to the Building Bridges Fellowship,' said Zaki Barzinji, Director, Building Bridges Program. 'These artists are bringing to life stories as rich and wide-ranging as the U.S. Muslim experience itself, at a time when they are needed more than ever. From documentaries that capture experiences seldom before seen to original fiction projects that push the boundaries of our imagination, their stories are authentically specific and universally resonant. We're honored to uplift them and support their journey towards bringing their craft to audiences of all kinds.'

'Four years in, the Building Bridges Fellowship has grown from a fellowship into a community, a network of Muslim American filmmakers who continue to champion one another's work long after their fellowship year ends,' said Iman Zawahry, Film Programs Director at the Islamic Scholarship Fund. 'Muslim storytellers have historically been underrepresented both onscreen and behind the camera, and access to mentorship and industry relationships remains one of the greatest barriers to changing that. With the continued support of the Doris Duke Foundation and our partnership with the Sundance Institute, we are building the kind of sustained infrastructure that turns emerging voices into lasting careers and ensures our communities are telling their own stories rather than having them told for us. Because lasting change in representation comes from sustained commitment, not a single opportunity.'

'As part of our continued commitment to breaking down systemic barriers and fostering a more equitable independent film ecosystem, we are proud to continue our programmatic partnership with the Islamic Scholarship Fund (ISF) with the generous support from the Doris Duke Foundation,' said Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Director, Artist Accelerator and Women at Sundance Institute at the Sundance Institute. 'Storytellers have the power to bridge cultural divides, but they require robust and sustained professional infrastructure to thrive. By combining unrestricted grants with bespoke, year-round creative and tactical support, we are investing in the long-term career sustainability of these artists. Gathering these artists at Duke Farms provides a vital space for creative exchange and community-building, and we look forward to championing their unique U.S. Muslim narratives as they shape the future of independent storytelling.'

Selected by a panel including representatives from Sundance Institute and the Islamic Scholarship Fund, the fourth cohort of 2026 fellows and their projects include:

2026 Building Bridges Fellows

Aiman Mimiko - Writer, Native Authority: Aiman Mimiko is a Nigerian American writer-director whose work explores faith, power, and belonging across Muslim and African worlds. He is a Princess Grace Award winner, BAFTA Connect talent, and Pillars Artist Fellow with an MFA in film from Columbia University.

Mariam Dwedar - Director, Producer, Cinematographer, The Farewell Kiss: Mariam Dwedar is an Emmy Award–winning Egyptian Filipina filmmaker from Brooklyn. Her international work spans award-winning documentaries, television series, and news programs, earning IDA, Peabody, and Webby honors. She has been recognized by DOC NYC as one of its '40 Under 40' rising stars in documentary.

Mohammed Ali Naqvi - Writer, Director, Producer, A Life on Terror: Academy member Mohammed Ali Naqvi is an award-winning filmmaker working in documentary and fiction. His latest feature, Hanging by a Wire (Paramount+), premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Credits include Netflix's Turning Point, Among the Believers (Film Independent Spirit Award nominee), and The Accused (Emmy nominee).

Mustafa Rony Zeno - Artist, Director, Please Take Off Your Shoes: Mustafa Rony Zeno is a cinematographer and audiovisual artist raised between Aleppo, Syria; and Los Angeles by midwives, cooks, mechanics, and musicians. He dwells in the porous edges between narrative, documentary, commercial, and installation work — as seen at MoMA, Art Basel, Tribeca, and on Criterion.

Nimco Sheikhaden - Director, Producer, The Angriest Black Man in America: Nimco Sheikhaden is a Bronx-based filmmaker whose work spans documentary and narrative, exploring systemic neglect, media distortion, and Black and Muslim resilience. Grounded in intimate, observational storytelling, her work seeks to reimagine how stories from the margins are told and remembered.

Ward Kamel - Writer, Director, If I Die in America: Ward Kamel is a Syrian filmmaker based in Brooklyn. He is an Academy Nicholl fellow, a Sundance Institute fellow, and a Vimeo Breakout Creator. His latest short, If I Die in America, premiered at SXSW. His latest feature script, EQUITY, was voted No. 2 on the 2025 Black List.

The Building Bridges Fellowship is one of several initiatives of the Doris Duke Foundation Building Bridges Program, which launched in 2007 to promote mutual understanding. Through this program, which is the largest U.S. funding program of its kind, the foundation has allocated over $50 million in grants to date aimed at creating understanding about and forming connections with U.S. Muslim communities.

The Building Bridges Fellowship, alongside the Building Bridges Completion Fund, is a part of Sundance Institute's Artist Accelerator Program, which works with artists and industry to create a more transparent, equitable, and sustainable independent film and television ecosystem.

For more information about the Doris Duke Foundation's Building Bridges Program visit https://www.dorisduke.org/programs/building-bridges

For more information about Sundance Institute and its artists programs, visit www.sundance.org.

About Doris Duke Foundation

The mission of the Doris Duke Foundation is to build a more creative, equitable and sustainable future. The foundation works across three areas: Arts & Culture; Nature; and Health & Well-being. Visit www.dorisduke.org to learn more.

About 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 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, supported projects have included 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, RBG, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, 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, Gregg Araki, Darren Aronofsky, Lisa Cholodenko, Nia DaCosta, Ryan Coogler, The Daniels, Robert Eggers, Rick Famuyiwa, David Gordon Green, Sterlin Harjo, Marielle Heller, Miranda July, Nikyatu Jusu, James Mangold, John Cameron Mitchell, Kimberly Peirce, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Boots Riley, A.V. Rockwell, Ira Sachs, Walter Salles, Quentin Tarantino, Erica Tremblay, Taika Waititi, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao.

About Islamic Scholarship Fund

Since 2009, ISF has pioneered support for filmmakers and advanced Muslim representation in film and media. ISF began by providing scholarships to emerging filmmakers and, in 2013, launched the first grant focused on Muslim storytelling in film, creating a dedicated source of funding for artists to develop and produce their invaluable stories.

Today, ISF Film Programs have evolved into a comprehensive support pipeline that accompanies filmmakers throughout their careers, from development and production to distribution, exhibition, and industry access. Through grants, fellowships, scholarships, mentorship, professional development, and strategic industry partnerships, ISF provides filmmakers with both the resources and networks needed to build sustainable careers.

At the heart of ISF's work is a commitment to removing the barriers that have historically limited Muslim storytelling in the film industry. By investing in filmmakers at multiple stages of their careers and creating pathways into the broader entertainment ecosystem, ISF is building a connected and empowered community of storytellers who create compassionate, truthful films about the Muslim experience.

ISF's goal extends beyond funding individual films, aiming to build a diverse ecosystem in which all filmmakers can create, connect, share, and sustain their work, expanding who gets to tell stories, which stories reach audiences, and whose voices have a place in the film industry.

Islamic Scholarship Fund (ISF) increases U.S. Muslim representation in media and government to improve public policy and public opinion. To date, ISF has given away over $5 million to programs that support filmmakers, journalists, public interest attorneys and policymakers. www.islamicscholarshipfund.org