Writer / Director: Nicole Mairose Dizon

Costume Designer: Malcom Morales

Armed with a Camera 2026-2027 Fellowship Prompt

Armed With a Camera captures the stories of peoples in movement. These Artists reflect imagination and adventure, desperation and courage, minds and bodies moving by leaping and struggling towards new possibilities and futures. Asians and Pacific Islanders in America have always had to create stories and present truths about our communities. They are heirs to that heritage and their stories help bind us to that legacy of our struggles, of and for movements, created through media.

Since 2002, Armed with a Camera Fellowship for Emerging Media Artists (AWC) has developed and supported over 175 Asian American & Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander filmmakers. Cultivating a rising generation of artists committed to social and political changes and movements, these storytellers have empowered communities and challenged perspectives through their creative works.

For the 2026-2027 Fellowship, we sought SoCal-based Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) artists to utilize this year's theme, "MOVEMENT," as a point of inspiration. During this time of political and social turbulence, we invite our fellows to reflect on the past and present while considering what moves them, both body and mind, whether it is a journey, a gesture, a belief, or a memory.