RESIDENCY
FILMMAKER RESIDENCY & PRODUCERS RETREAT
For Seven Years NCFF did something radical:
we created the first artist residency
for independent producers
Each year we invited a handful of mid-career and veteran producers to a six-day retreat program centered on rest, renewal, and community engagement. Producers worked in fiction, series, nonfiction, video games, video art, and international cinema. The residency also focused on honoring Indigenous communities and those of Asian descent, which have long stewarded and contributed to the richness of Nevada City.
Past Residents
Melissa Adeyemo
Nikkia Moulterie
Riel Roch Decter
Taylor Shung
2025
2024
Giulia Caruso
Rachael Fung
Tory Lenosky
Mishka Brown
Amy Hobby
Mariko Munro
2023
2022
Jameka Autry
Diane Quon
Avril Speaks
Liz Cardenas
Rebecca Green
Kishoria Rajan
2021
2020
During lockdown, funding supported online producer programs
Diane Houslin
Vassiliki Khonsari
Christina King
Kimberley Parker
Zhang Xianmin
2019
2018
Christina Choe, writer & director
Blackhorse Lowe, writer & director
2025
Melissa Adeyemo
Nikkia Moulterie
Riel Roch Decter
Taylor Shung
2024
Giulia Caruso
Rachael Fung
Tory Lenosky
2023
Mishka Brown
Amy Hobby
Mariko Munro
2022
Jameka Autry
Diane Quon
Avril Speaks
2021
Liz Cardenas
Rebecca Green
Kishoria Rajan
2020
During lockdown, funding supported online producer programs
2019
Diane Houslin
Vassiliki Khonsari
Christina King
Kimberley Parker
Zhang Xianmin
2018
Christina Choe, writer & director
Blackhorse Lowe, writer & director
ABOUT THE RESIDENCY
Our Values
The residency emerged from the Festival’s core values of fun, nourishment, and artist-driven support. Our motto was Rest for Producers Is Radical. We led with values rooted in rest, renewal, peer connection, and genuine nourishment. When we invest in the whole being, we invest in the longtime health of the art form itself.
Our Goals
To center independent producers with whole-being, holistic support and model that practice. To provide nourishment and inspiration to independent producers amidst the beauty and quiet of Nevada City. To further enrich the region’s world-class creative community with the active presence of invited media makers.
TIMELINE
2017
NCFF launches the MediaMaker Residency,a multi-day program supporting local Nevada County media makers.
2018
The residency expands, welcoming two independent writer-directors for month-long stays and community engagement.
2019
The program reimagines itself to center independent producers, launching a creative retreat and hosting a producer-in-residence.
2020
During the COVID-19 lockdown, residency funding supported online producer programs.
2021 – 2025
The residency welcomes five annual cohorts of mid-career & veteran independent producers.
2026
The residency pauses while the festival transitions to include a creative cohort model.
What the producers said
On What Producers Looked Forward to Most
“Having the permission in
a professional gathering of producers to rest.
I don’t think I even understood what that was.”
“The invitation felt so validating at a time I needed it. It made me feel special and appreciated and seen — that was such a gift.”
“Community with other producers! I always gain so much from being in the company of other creative producers.”
On Why This Residency Mattered
“I was finally recognized for my work as a producer.
I was given a stipend which is rare. I was seen as valuable – by being taken care of
in every way financially, emotionally.”
“The time in nature was incredibly impactful.
I wish I could go back. I have so many new puzzles I want to solve with other producers.”
“It forced me to think of myself as someone deserving of care rather than always being the caretaker”
“It was the first time I didn’t have to show up and perform. I wasn’t here to pitch a project. It was just time for me. Those opportunities are very rare.”
“The retreat was key to reminding me of how much power we hold, as individuals and collectively, to shape our industry with equity and dignity as a priority. That we can imbue our ethics and a more human-centered approach into an industry that often challenges those very values.”
On What New Space Became Possible
“When we went to the grocery store and you told us to fill our cart. It was a visual example of how we always put ourselves last as producers — we don’t ask for what we want. That really impacted my thinking about what I want career wise and even just personally – and feeling okay with answering that question just for myself.”
“One of my favorite things was the career coach. It gave me another perpsective on my work, especially the work-life balance. I’d never been given that before from a retreat. It’s always about the work. That’s what I loved – a break from the hustle of what it is to be a producer. No one else does that for producers.”
“It felt like a kind of rewilding. It challenged this underlying belief that human capital has to be extractive in an industry so driven by popularity and the performance of power. This retreat quietly introduced a different idea, that we can still operate in that sandbox, but we don’t have to replicate it.”
What Stayed with you
“A memory that is filled with warmth and that really sat with me was my time solo by the river while the group took a hike I knew I could not, hanging out by the water and sitting with myself was a highlight.”
“That last night. I remember hard-core belly laughs. I couldn’t even tell you what we were laughing about. What is different about this residency is that it’s soul enriching. It’s not about building yourself for your career. It’s about regenerating yourself, it’s rejuvenating yourself. It gave us the space to acknowledge the struggle and rest a little bit. That’s huge.”
“Lying under the stars in sleeping bags alongside the other residents, picking fresh food, swimming in the river alone and then unexpectedly sharing that stillness with another resident.”
What Did You Start or Stop Doing After the Residency
“It was the first time I understood that it wasn’t a badge of honor to be exhausted. It was the start of a mindset change.”
“After the residency it became possible for me to see myself as a different kind of producer, meaning one that’s not a cog in the machine. I developed a lot of self-respect. It’s hard to explain. I just value myself in a very different way than I did before that.”
“Quietly at first, and then less so, I stopped centering other people’s happiness before my own.”
“After the residency I finally started to charge a fee on projects, after the first meeting with a film team. This was something I felt uncomfortable doing before. But after the session with the career coach, I felt emboldened to state a fee up front. Sometimes the film team would agree or negotiate, and sometimes that would be the end – and that was ok!”
ABOUT NCFF
Since 2001, the Nevada City Film Festival has brought top independent film, music, and comedy to the historic Sierra Nevada foothills. Named one of the Top 50 Film Festivals in the World by Moviemaker Magazine six times, including 2026, and ranked #9 in the USA by USA Today’s 10Best, NCFF is widely known as the “Sundance of the Sierra.”
residency Director
KARIN CHIEN
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.
KARIN CHIEN
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.