Jan 16, 2026
Help us give a warm welcome to 2026’s group of Bay Area–based storytellers who will take up residence at FilmHouse, SFFILM’s dynamic shared workspace for independent filmmakers. The FilmHouse Residency is managed by SFFILM Makers, the artist development program at SFFILM and is made possible in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. The program supports both narrative and documentary projects (including features, shorts, and series) by providing 12-month residencies to local filmmakers actively engaged in various stages of production.
FilmHouse Residents receive a variety of benefits including special access to established industry professionals offering artistic guidance and support from their various areas of expertise as well as a robust guest speaker series featuring lectures and presentations by leading industry professionals; workshops led by prominent filmmakers and other members of the independent film industry; peer-to-peer support; work-in-progress screenings; bi-weekly production meetings; access to meaningful networking opportunities; and numerous other community-building programs.
The selection committee for the 2026 FilmHouse Residents were:
- Masashi Niwano, Director of Artist Development, SFFILM
- Sofia Alicastro, Deputy Director, Film SF
- Erika Arnold, Artist Development Associate Manager, SFFILM
- Joshua Moore, Artist Development Manager of Documentary, SFFILM
- Rosa Morales, Artist Development Manager of Narrative, SFFILM
- Betsy Tsai, filmmaker
Let’s meet the residents that will be taking their projects to the next stage at FilmHouse in 2026!
Meet the 2026 Residents
Shizue Roche Adachi
Small Claims—Feature Narrative
Stage: Screenwriting
When her neighbor’s dogs kill 25 of her sheep, a Japanese American city kid turned shepherd takes her fight for justice to court—only to find her own claims to belonging put on trial.
Tara Baghdassarian
The Dragon Under Our Feet—Feature Documentary
Stage: Production
A Bay Area artist reconnects with her Armenian heritage while piecing together stained glass fragments of ancient Armenian symbols. The patterns’ meaning lies within traditionally woven carpets, collected by elders struggling to protect the artifacts from cultural erasure.
Samantha Berlanga
Pleasure Seekers—Feature Documentary
Stage: Production
In Brooklyn, two lifelong best friends and a first-generation mother confront their desires, fears, and longings around love, intimacy, and autonomy. As their lives intertwine, they discover unexpected parallels.
Maya Cameron
20 Years Later: A Juvenile Hall Reunion—Feature Documentary
Stage: Development
Twenty years after being incarcerated as teenagers in San Francisco’s juvenile hall, a group of women — including the film’s director — reunite to reflect on their shared experiences, the family patterns and systemic failures that led them there, and whether the system rehabilitated or harmed them. Together, they examine the long-term effects of incarceration and the paths
they’ve taken toward healing and transformation.
Erin Carlson
Autumnland—Feature Narrative
Stage: Screenwriting
A down-and-out, romcom-obsessed tour guide discovers a portal into Nora Ephron’s 1990s Cinematic Universe
Ginger Yifan Chen
Papers—Narrative Short
Stage: Pre-Production
During a green card marriage interview, a couple recalls their tumultuous relationship and questions whether their love can survive under the pressures of bureaucracy.
Daniel Díaz
Roll Fog—Feature Documentary
Stage: Production
When San Francisco City FC, the country’s oldest community-owned fútbol club, loses its beloved stadium to a new team backed by money and politics, their diehard fans refuse to fold. Instead, they rally with punk grit and working-class spirit to fight for their club’s survival through a season of uncertainty.
Camilo Garzón
To SETL—Feature Narrative/Episodic
Stage: Screenwriting
An unprecedented aurora borealis phenomenon in a Scandinavian Sound interrupts the life and work of a newly married journalist and scientist, leaving them searching for answers both about the solidity of their relationship and the presence of extraterrestrial life.
Jalena Keane-Lee
Yellow Widow—Feature Narrative
Stage: Screenwriting
Manish Khanal
Sukha—Documentary Short
Stage: Development
After running Subway sandwich shops for two decades, a Florida family dreams of returning to Nepal.
Henry Kinder
The Gathering—Feature Narrative
Stage: Development
After his mother’s death, EVAN (29) returns home to Berkeley to sort through the family house, finding himself with a new roommate: his estranged, ornery uncle EUGENE (68). Together, the unlikely pair –– with the help of a newcomer, ALICE (31) –– contend with the collected baggage of a shared past and prepare the house for a sale, as Evan’s understanding of home evolves, from an address on a map to a dynamic web of relationships being remade and validated each day.
Elisa Leiva
Película sin fin, 1995—Feature Documentary
Stage: Development
A filmmaker discovers Hi-8 tapes hidden in her late grandmother’s closet, revealing an unfinished documentary about her life from 1995. As she pieces the film together, she uncovers a political thriller within her own family history, and the archive begins to move between past and present, between images that are both inherited and reimagined.
Sepi Mashiahof
Tell Me About the Fairies—Feature Narrative
Stage: Development
Alienated by the sexual wonderland of college life, a sheltered queer Iranian “boy” encounters fairies who curse him with an aroma that makes men hopelessly attracted to him as his body rots away like spoiled fruit.
Brandon Yadegari Morneno
The Prison Outside—Feature Documentary
Stage: Post-Production
Sentenced to life for crimes he committed as a child, Terrence Graham took his fight for freedom all the way to the Supreme Court and won, prompting the release of thousands off his case and changing the nation’s juvenile justice system. But not before coming of age behind bars. After 21 years, he is finally getting out – but is life outside just another prison?
Otito Obi
Nights In Fillmore—Narrative Short
Stage: Screenwriting
In 1950s San Francisco, a romantic night turns sinister when a young couple accidentally attends a minstrel show and must battle against the supernatural to save their neighborhood.
Tajianna Okechukwu
Nights In Fillmore—Narrative Short
Stage: Screenwriting
In 1950s San Francisco, a romantic night turns sinister when a young couple accidentally attends a minstrel show and must battle against the supernatural to save their neighborhood.
Yeon Park
Is There Anything Left to Fix?—Other
Stage: Development
Between photo studios in South Korea and immigration offices in the United States, the filmmakers reflect on how the face became a site of power and exclusion. Their investigation takes them from the origin of ID portraiture to identify Chinese detainees on Angel Island to the pervasive use of surveillance and facial recognition technology to monitor today’s immigrants.
Tenzin Phuntsog
Sentient Beings—Feature Narrative
Stage: Development
In a surreal landscape, a man embarks on a fateful journey amid ecological and spiritual turmoil.
Susannah Smith
We Belong (working title)—Feature Documentary
Stage: Post-Production
For 18 rowdy years, the Lexington Club was the only dyke/queer bar in the “Gay Mecca” of San Francisco; More than just a safe space, the Lex was headquarters for a Queer rebellion transforming the world. A decade after its closure, the film reveals how this iconic space offers vital lessons for sustaining queer resistance amid unprecedented political backlash.
Yvette Solis
Untitled 3PD Project—Hybrid Short
Stage: Development
A self-reflective narrator embarks on a chaotic journey to uncover the truth behind a mysterious neurological disorder. As the invisible illness takes hold, her grip on reality unravels, forcing her to confront the disorienting fragility of life and fight to feel safe in her own mind and body again.
Kyungwon Song
Is There Anything Left to Fix?—Documentary Short
Stage: Development
Between photo studios in South Korea and immigration offices in the United States, the filmmakers reflect on how the face became a site of power and exclusion. Their investigation takes them from the origin of ID portraiture to identify Chinese detainees on Angel Island to the pervasive use of surveillance and facial recognition technology to monitor today’s immigrants.
Felix Uribe Jr
The Tenderloin (working title)—Documentary Short
Stage: Production
A collaborative documentary rooted in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, unfolding through interconnected stories shaped over time with the people at its center.
Shucheng Yan
Water Mama—Feature Narrative
Stage: Screenwriting
A young divorcée in California reconnects with her home-quarantined mother in Shanghai through daily video calls. At her new job culturing jellyfish, she runs into a married woman from her past. The two find themselves drawn to whales and to each other.
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