Our Team
The cast, crew and creatives behind LITTLE SKY believe that it is important for both the people behind and in front of the camera to reflect the communities we are trying to reach. Our cast and crew is diverse, and filled with women, LGBTQ+ people, and people of color in key positions. We are committed to solidarity amongst our different histories and uplifting each other’s stories. Here are some of the team members that brought this story to life.
Jess X. Snow
Writer/Director
Jess X. Snow is a non-binary Chinese-Canadian artist, filmmaker, and Thesis MFA Candidate at NYU Tisch, where they received the Ang Lee Scholarship. Their multi-disciplinary work spans narrative and documentary films, murals, kid’s books. Their films have been supported by Tribeca Film Institute, BAFTA, the National Film Board of Canada and distributed by HBO Max. Their past shorts AFTEREARTH and SAFE AMONG STARS have screened at over 30 film festivals internationally.
Follow them at @jessxsnow
Zamarin Wahdat
Director of Photography
With a deep interest in expanding the boundaries of how to tell stories visually, Zamarin Wahdat is drawn to tell stories that let us not only see but feel communities and characters from the inside out. Born in Afghanistan and raised in Germany, Zamarin was a Dean’s fellow at the Tisch School of the Arts. Her films have screened and won awards at numerous film festivals, including the Oscars, Sundance, Berlinale, BFI Film Festival, Outfest, and Tribeca.
Follow her at @zamarinwahdat
Andrew Ahn
Executive Producer
Andrew Ahn is a queer Korean-American filmmaker born and raised in Los Angeles. His feature films DRIVEWAYS and SPA NIGHT have screened at festivals around the world including the Sundance Film Festival, Berlinale, and the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2017, SPA NIGHT won the John Cassavetes Independent Spirit Award. He has promoted diversity in the arts by mentoring youth filmmakers through programs like Pacific Arts Movement’s Reel Voices, Outfest’s OutSet, and the Sundance Institute's Native Filmmaker Lab and Ignite Program.
Follow him at @andrewahnfilms
Andreas Nicholas
Producer
Andreas Nicholas is an award-winning queer director, producer, and cinematographer born and raised in Chicago. He is the recipient of 16 international creative awards and has created commercial content for clients such as the Harvard Medical School, Gates Foundation, and Caring Across Generations. Andreas is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and is known for his skill in combining entrepreneurship and artistry with storytelling to change the world.
Eris Qian
Producer
A filmmaker based in New York City, and a graduate of the MBA/MFA dual degree program at NYU’s schools of Stern and Tisch. Passionate about stories of global cultural heritage and diaspora, she has directed and produced a number of short documentaries that cover undocumented immigrants, Tibetan traditional medicine, and disappearing traditions in China. Her television documentary has earned the highest rating in non-scripted category of weekend prime time on Shen Zhen National Satellite Channel.
Wo Chan
Lead Actor/SKY
Wo Chan is a non-binary, queer Fujianese drag performer and poet living in Brooklyn. Wo has received fellowships from the New York Foundation of the Arts, Kundiman, and the Asian American Writers Workshop. As a drag performer, Wo has been featured in the feature documentary “A Night At Switch n’ Play,” which screened at Newfest and Toronto LGBT Film Festival, and has performed at venues including The Whitney, National Sawdust, and the BAM Fisher.
Follow them at @theillustriouspearl
Tonilyn Sideco
Co-Producer + Assistant Director
Tonilyn Sideco is one of four fabulous co-hosts of First Person, a PBS Digital Studios series on gender identity, sexuality and queer community. Toni holds a BA in Sociology with a minor in Women’s Studies from UCLA and a MFA in Theater & Film from Stony Brook University, Southampton. Toni has 15 years experience in the non-profit sector and public school system as a counselor, case manager and creative healing program coordinator and educator working with queer youth and elders and young people of color in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and New York.
Follow them at @toneontop
Kyoko Takenaka
Actor/Miyo + Songwriter
A non-binary actor, performance artist, musician and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, Kyoko is currently booked as a recurring co-star on Animal Kingdom (TNT), and the upcoming Hulu series, High Fidelity, executively produced by Zoë Kravitz . Their work has been recognized by the Bruce Lee Foundation, Japan Film Festival, LA Shorts International Film Festival; performed at the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Autograph ABP Gallery in London, and Highways Performance Space.
Follow them at @jinjabrew
Sueann Leung
Costume Designer
Sueann Leung is a New York-based costume designer and stylist. They have worked with Broadway designers Paul Tazewell, Ann Roth, Clint Ramos, and DeDe Ayite, fashion stylist Patti Wilson, and served on Santo Loquasto’s Tony Award-winning design team for Broadway’s Hello, Dolly!. Most recently, they were the costume designer for BKPI (Brooklyn Private Investigators) which premiered at LA Film Festival, Frameline, and Outfest. Leung earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Gender Studies from Mount Holyoke College, and this background continues to inform their work using costume design as a powerful tool to humanize and respectfully represent people – particularly those from marginalized groups and especially queer people of color.
Follow them at @sueann.leung
Frisly Soberanis
Co-Producer & Additional Cinematography
Frisly Soberanis is a director and video artist, from Queens, New York via Guatemala. His work explores separation, distance, and the migrant experience. He has received support from E4FC’s Fuse fund, Tribeca Film Institute’s New Media Prototype Fund, Culturestrike, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. He is one of the Open Society’s Photo Documentary Fellows. The last project he worked on, the Family Reunions Project, was a 360 video/ virtual reality project that explored the layers of reality, memories, and messages.
Rachel Harrison Gordon
Associate Producer
Rachel Harrison Gordon is a graduate of the School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and was a Presidential Innovation Fellow for the Obama administration. She is currently a thesis student in the joint master’s degree at Stern-Tisch at New York University and is a Sundance Blackhouse Fellow. In her work she challenges expectations of race, family and addiction. Her debut film, Broken Bird premiered at the 2020 Berlinale in the Generation K Plus section.
Robert Ouyang Rusli
Original Score & Music Production
Robert Ouyang Rusli is an Asian American film composer & artist based in Brooklyn, NY. He is the recipient of the 2017-2018 Van Lier Fellowship for Music Composition. He recently scored the award-winning Trinidadian film Moko Jumbie that premiered at LA Film Festival. His score for the feature documentary Good Game won Best Original Score at the IndieCapitol Film Festival. Rob has composed music for films, exhibitions and art projects featured in the Queens Museum, BAM Next Wave Festival, BAMCinématek, Dixon Place, and Ensemble Studio Theater.
Follow him at @ohyungli
Teng Yang
Song Writer & Music Director
Teng Yang is a Hmong actor, performer, singer, and playwright. Born in Ban Vinai, a refugee camp in northern Thailand, much of his work and storytelling explores themes of diaspora, memory, and belonging. Teng received his training from Brown University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts where he has performed under the direction of notable artists like Marcus Gardley. His one-person play, American Hmong, won the Brown University Ethnic Studies Best Thesis Award for its raw exploration of the racialization of Southeast Asians in America.
Yuan Yuan
Co-Editor
Yuan Yuan is is currently an Ang Lee Scholar at New York University as an MFA candidate in writing and directing. After graduating from Shanghai Theatre Academy, she began working in script development for Oscar-winning producer Bill Kong (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Lust, Caution, and Mulan). In 2017, Her short film EXCHANGE is official selected by Palm Springs International Film Festival. In 2020, her short film, HEADING SOUTH won best film at 25th Directors Guild of America’s Student Film Awards, and Best Student Film at AspenShorts and Palmsprings Shorts Festival.
Peter Pa
Production Designer
Peter Pa is a visual designer, illustrator, and animator. He earned his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design where he received the Kira M. Fischer Scholarship for Excellence in film. His work has been featured at SFMOMA, The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, The Interference Archive and USAID. His films have been screened at Outfest Fusion, CAAMfest, the Asian American International Film Festival, the Peabody Essex Museum, Rooftop Films, the Museum of Radio and Television in New York as well as internationally in Paris and Japan.
Follow him at @maigra.spora
Yumeng Han
Co-Producer
Yumeng Han is a Chinese-born writer/director, currently a thesis student at the NYU Graduate film. Growing up in the urban fringe of Nanjing, China, Yumeng uses cinema to explore the loneliness of lower-middle-class communities and their isolation from modern society. Yumeng’s short film Crossing River (2017) was selected in Pardi Di Domaini of the 70th Locarno Festival, short film competition of the 58th San Francisco International Film Festival, and more.
Zoraida Ingles
Art Director
Zoraida Ingles is an artist of self-taught means specializing in visual design, illustration, and photography. She has worked on branding, graphic design, and set design for Names of Women, Mercy Mistress, and Safe Among Stars. A graduate of a product design bootcamp, she decided instead to put her passion and energy into telling stories of diaspora as well as advocating for alternate education. Her work has been featured in Hyperallergic, HuffPost, and at NYU.
Follow her at @zo.ing
Nathan Singhapok
Sound Designer & Mixer
Nathan Singhapok is a Thai-American composer, sound designer, and audio engineer. He received his bachelor of arts degree in music composition from the University of California, San Diego in 2010. He currently works as an audio engineer for Gimlet Media, a podcast production company. Previously, he worked as an audio restoration engineer and mixer for The Criterion Collection, where he restored audio for countless films. Nathan has also composed scores for short films and advertisements for numerous brands, and releases his own music under his artist alias, Apok.
Follow him at @_____apok
Zenzele Ojore
2nd Assistant Director & Additional Cinematography
Zenzele Ojore is a filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist from Houston, Texas based in New York City. Her award-winning short films have played at festivals including Sundance (Horizon Award) and SXSW. She received her undergraduate degree from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2018, and is presently a dean fellow in the graduate film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a 2020 Sundance Ignite Fellow.
Jade Begay
2nd Assistant Director
Jade is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, and a digital and communications strategist. Jade’s work explores Indigenous futurism, decolonization, Indigenous representation in the media landscape. Jade has partnered with organizations like Resource Media, United Nations Universal Access Project, 350.org, Indigenous Environmental Network, and Tribal Nations from the Arctic to the Amazon to develop strategies, digital storytelling campaigns, and original content to mobilize and create more engagement around the most urgent issues of our time. Currently, Jade is the Creative Director at NDN Collective and is developing a VR/AR series in partnership with Google VR and is producing and directing films independently.
Shane McSauby
2nd Assistant Camera
Shane McSauby is a citizen of the Gichi Wiikwedong Odawa Anishinaabek (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.) He was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan and is currently a thesis student in the MFA program for Writing/Directing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. In 2016, Shane became the first Sundance Institute & Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellow for his script Mino Bimaadiziwin which included participating in the Sundance Institute's Native Filmmakers Lab in Santa Fe, NM. Shane spends his downtime writing, staying active in the Native community, learning traditional stories and life-ways and advocating for Native rights. He is interested in passing his knowledge of filmmaking down to tribal youth through interactive workshops.
Morcos Key
Graphic Design & Identity
Morcos Key is a Brooklyn-based design studio collaborating with arts & cultural institutions, non-profits, and commercial enterprises in North America and the Middle East, founded by Jon Key and Wael Morcos. Jon(athan) Key is an artist, designer, and writer originally from Seale, Alabama. Jon is also a Co-Founder and Design Director at Codify Art, a multidisciplinary collective dedicated to creating, producing, supporting, and showcasing work by artists of color, particularly women, queer, and trans artists of color. Wael Morcos is a graphic designer and type designer from Beirut, Lebanon. Upon receiving his BA in Graphic Design from Notre Dame University (Lebanon), he spent three years developing identities and Arabic-Latin bilingual typefaces, in addition to working in print and exhibition design.
RJ Rushmore
Associate Producer
RJ Rushmore is a public art enthusiast, sometimes a public art critic, and co-curator of the guerrilla public art project Art in Ad Places. As a writer, curator, and project manager, he has been promoting and facilitating ambitious visual and performing art for over a decade.
Fenton Li
Actor/Father
A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and alumnus of T. Schreiber. He has worked on close to 100 industry acting projects in the last six years: a dozen Off-Broadway and regional productions including LaMama, and PanAsian Repertory Theatre, over 70+ film productions with at least 14 awarded in major film festivals; one for ‘Best Actor’ from the 2017 FirstRun Film Festival.
His TV credits includes Blacklist , Bull, Carrie Diaries, and more.
Follow him at @fenton_li
Yiqing Zhao
Actor/Mother
Yiqing Zhao is a New York-based actress/writer hailing from Shanghai by way of Baltimore. As a singing actor, she has performed at Merkin Concert Hall, Theater for the New City, Hudson Guild Theater, 3LD, Single Carrot Theater, to name a few. On-screen, she starred and sang the soundtrack for the multiple-award-winning bilingual film “The Collector”, premiered in both the US and China; played a guest star role in the award-winning pilot "Divorce School"; and can also be seen in a handful of award-winning Indie films including Future '38, Orchard Beach, Midair, Due Date, etc. As a playwright, her work has been produced at Manhattan Repertory Theater, Medicine Show Theater and Hudson Guild Theater. She is vigorously developing new works featuring strong, independent Asian female characters.
Ayumi Ashley
Colorist
Ayumi is the New York based Global Lead Colorist at NTROPIC. Ayumi's work has been screened at Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca, and her projects frequently appear as Vimeo Staff Picks and AdWeek Features. She has spoken at NAB show, is a member of IATSE Local 700 Editors Guild (part of what makes her a Netflix-approved colorist) and Colorist Society International.
Born to continent-jumping musician parents, Ayumi (pronounced I-You-Me) holds three different passports and speaks Japanese and English natively.