RESIDENCY
FILMMAKER RESIDENCY & PRODUCERS RETREAT
The Nevada City Film Festival’s Media Maker Residency is committed to bringing established producers to engage in cross-cultural exchange, with a special focus on engaging Native American and Asian American communities with historic ties to Nevada City. This program is borne out of the fun, nurturing, and artist-friendly values of the Nevada City Film Festival.
In 2024, this unique six-day program will invite established independent producers for a creative retreat centered around sustainability, creative regeneration, and community engagement in the historic Gold Rush-era town of Nevada City, in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California. We aim to provide nourishment and inspiration to independent producers amidst the beauty and quiet of Nevada City. In addition, we aim to further enrich the area’s world-class creative community with the active presence of invited media makers. In the afternoons, producers will be invited to participate in walks, hikes, Yuba River excursions, and tours of the town’s unique American history. In the evenings, producers will be invited to attend screenings and guest artist presentations at the Nevada City Film Festival, along with group dinners featuring local farm to table cuisine and foothill vintners.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
2-4 filmmakers/producers are selected each year to spend 1 weeks during the month of June in Nevada City. The goal is to support their creative work and artistic growth in new, inspiring environs, while also creating a space and a foundation for dialogue, exchange and potential artistic collaboration.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Inspiring and relaxing setting of natural beauty
- Community of practice peer sessions
- Speaker sessions with invited expert guests
- Free time to rest, read, play or create.
- Opportunities to meet and connect with local media makers and artists
structure
The fundamental structure will be as follows:
- NCFF will provide the filmmaker residents with comfortable housing that is either within walking distance of either historic downtowns or a short drive.
- NCFF will provide a stipend that should cover basic living expenses such as groceries, gas for local travel and incidentals.
- NCFF will provide a work space at the festival’s headquarter which includes high speed internet, office supplies, a place for meeting, etc.
- NCFF will set up weekly meetings with special guest industry professionals in the areas of editing, screenwriting and directing to meet and work with the filmmaker residents.
- NCFF will work with local partners including schools and businesses to provide filmmakers with editing bays, green screens, and sound stages.
- NCFF will host bi-weekly mixers at local restaurants, bars and coffee shops with local/regional producers, editors, cinematographers, writers and directors, to provide filmmakers with a local network.
- NCFF will work closely with the filmmaker residents to design a cultural enrichment program for the Nevada City and Grass Valley community. Filmmakers can propose a tailored program. We would provide a budget for resources to execute each resident’s cultural program. We would also solicit ideas from local schools, theaters and filmmakers for what programs could most benefit the community.
Examples may include:
- Talks at local high schools or filmmaking classes for youth.
- NCFF will host the filmmaker residents during the Annual Nevada City Film Festival.
- Curating a thematic series of film screenings.
- Holding a workshop on writing or editing for local filmmakers.
Past Filmmakers:
Amy hobby (2023), Mariko Munro (2023), mishka brown (2023), JAMEKA AUTRY (2022), AVRIL SPEAKS (2022), DIANE QUON (2022), Rebecca Green (2021), Kishori Rajan (2021), Liz Cardenas (2021), Zhang Xianmin (2019), Christina King (2019), Diane Houslin (2019), Kimberly Parker (2019), Vassiliki Khonsari (2019), Christina Choe (2018), Blackhorse Lowe (2018)
THIS YEAR'S RESIDENTS
KARIN CHIEN
RESIDENCY DIRECTOR
Karin Chien is an independent producer and distributor committed to radical practices of ethical filmmaking that can support bold voices and new ideas. Karin is producing a diversified slate in fiction, nonfiction, series, games, books and art installations. Karin is the recipient of the inaugural Cinereach Producing Award and the Piaget Independent Spirit Producers Award. Karin is the founder and president of dGenerate Films, the leading distributor of independent Chinese cinema. Karin is a co-founder of Distribution Advocates, a collective advocating for equity and transparency in film distribution.
TAYLOR SHUNG
Producer
TAYLOR SHUNG is a producer born and raised in New York City. She began her career in production working with filmmakers and artists such as Kogonada, Kahlil Joseph, and The Daniels. Her most recent film credits include Celine Song’s Oscar Nominated film Past Lives, Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw The TV Glow, and Chloe Zhao’s Oscar Winning Nomadland. As a Producer she has helped bring to the screen films by emerging filmmakers such Zia Anger (My First Film), Hannah Peterson (The Graduates), Olivia West Lloyd (Somewhere Quiet) and the filmmaking duo Kentucker Audley & Albert Birney (Strawberry Mansion). In 2019, Taylor had her Broadway debut as a Video Producer for Ivo Van Hove’s revival of West Side Story. Taylor is a 2019 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow.
Melissa Adeyemo
producer, educator and marketer
Melissa Adeyemo is a visionary Nigerian American creative producer, educator and marketer dedicated to fostering cross-continental collaborations in film and television. She founded the US-based production company Ominira Studios and co-founded the intracontinental studio Yetu (Un)Limited. Melissa has a passion for developing both fiction and creative documentary projects. She has produced award-winning films such as Eyimofe and Dusty & Stones.
Eyimofe premiered at the 2020 Berlinale, was a NY Times Critics Pick, and is currently the first Nigerian film to be a part of the Criterion Collection. Melissa is one of the first African female producers to have her featurette as part of the collection. Eyimofe won five African Movie Academy Awards, including Best Nigerian Film. Dusty & Stones, her first documentary feature, premiered at Doc NYC and has gone on to win several awards across the US and Europe. Dusty & Stones is currently being theatrically distributed by First Run Features. Her work has premiered at renowned festivals, including New Directors/New Films, TIFF, the Berlinale, Doc NYC, and Tribeca.
Melissa is an alum of the illustrious EAVE Producers Program, the Netflix + Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship, and the BAFTA USA Breakthrough Fellowship. She is also the only producer on record to be a part of all three Gotham Lab fellowships. Melissa has an MBA from NYU Stern on a full-time scholarship and a BA from Columbia University.
Nikkia Moulterie
Producer
Nikkia Moulterie is a NY-based Producer, a 2023 Variety Producer to Watch, 2022 Gotham Cannes Fellow, and 2019 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow Mark Silverman Honoree. In 2019, she produced Suicide by Sunlight with writer/director Nikyatu Jusu, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, and her debut feature Nanny which won the Grand Jury Dramatic Prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. She Co-Produced the premiere season of the Peabody award-winning Random Acts of Flyness for HBO & A24. Her work as a producer also includes episodic projects, Final Witness at ABC, One Bad Choice for MTV, and numerous campaigns for global brands. She is currently in development on a slate of debut features with emerging filmmakers.
Riel Roch-Decter
Producer
Riel Roch-Decter is a creative producer and the co-founder of MEMORY, a Los Angeles based independent artist-driven motion picture studio specializing in producing and releasing innovative, thought-provoking works that push the formal boundaries of their medium. Focused on discovering and mentoring new diverse voices, MEMORY creates and showcases these new compositions on and off-line. For over 10 years the studio has collaborated with multi-hyphenate filmmakers and artists such as: Zia Anger, Amalia Ulman, Theo Anthony, DIS, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Carson Mell, Martine Syms, Dean Fleischer- Camp, Marnie Ellen Hertzler, Joshua Citarella, Noah Collier and Emily MacKenzie on a mix of feature films, episodic, live performance and exhibits cutting across fiction and nonfiction.
Riel graduated from Concordia University with a Major in Economics. In addition he has attended programs at the Harvard Business School, NYU SCPS, and the London School of Economics for Management and Entrepreneurship. He has participated in the Cannes Producer’s Network, the IFFRotterdam Lab, the Sundance Creative Producing Lab and was awarded the Cinereach Producing Award in 2020.