StorySeeds is a 3-month lab dedicated to nurture and cultivate emerging filmmakers and storytellers by supporting them to develop the concept and write their first short narrative film screenpla with the guidance of highly experienced and established mentors.

Each fellow receives funds and connections to a new long lasting community of professional artists and filmmakers.

This lab holds a space for emerging artists to step into their creative screenwriting process, learn skills, and gain the necessary confidence to trust their intuition and story.

The screenplays created in this program can prepare them to apply for a myriad of fund and residency opportunities.

This is often the first step for many artists developing their long term film practice and telling their story.

Applications are closed for StorySeeds 2024. They will open again in Fall 2025.

CURRENT FELLOWS & MENTOR

LEAH X RATHE

SABRINA FORD

DR. MOSS

SARA OSMAN

RIO PÉREZ

RAVEN JOHNSON

StorySeeds Screenwriting Mentor & Facilitator

Leah X Rathe (she/her) is an Asian-American filmmaker based in rural Northern Minnesota. She

was adopted from China and raised in the U.S, primarily in Montana and Minnesota. She aims to expand the space for underrepresented voices through her films, especially within transracial adoptee and Asian-American communities. Leah currently operates her own business, Leah XR Creative, and received her Bachelor’s Degree in Digital Media Arts, as well as a Paralegal Certificate, from Hamline University. Leah was a 2023 Ignite Rural Artist-in-Residence and was a member of the 2024 CAAL Leaders MOVEE (Making Our Voices Effective for Equity) Asian American Leadership Cohort.

Her debut animated short film CHOPSTICK, centered around her own experiences as a transracial adoptee, has screened in several film festivals including the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon, the Houston Asian American & Pacific Islander Film Festival, the Minnesota Film Festival, and the Snake Alley Festival of Film.

Sara Osman (she/her) is a writer, advocate, and filmmaker based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her passion lies in storytelling about memory, place, and identity, specifically focusing on the unique and evolving Somali identity within the Minnesota landscape. Themes of home, displacement, belonging, migration, and cultural preservation are at the core of her work, cultivating a deeper understanding of the Somali community's journey in Minnesota and bridging generational and cultural gaps. She is a co-founder of The Qalanjo Project, a Somali cultural organization and creative arts studio in Minneapolis. Sara is currently directing and producing two short documentary films as well as an audio-archival project. Her work has been supported by NeXt Doc, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network, and the City of Minneapolis’ Dept of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Sabrina Ford (they/she) is a visual artist and independent curator born and raised in the Twin Cities. With a strong gravitation towards experimental filmmaking and installation, imagining ways to transcend the physical through light and the manipulation of moving images. At the moment, the main focus of her work is centered around black existentialism, ritual within the technological, and continuing the tradition of oral narrative through video.

Dr. Moss (she/her) is a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota. She is the only American Indian to hold both Nursing and Juris Doctorates. Moss is currently a Professor and Associate Dean of Nursing and Health Policy at the University of Minnesota. She was named to the inaugural Forbes 50 over 50 Impact List; awarded - Nurse with A Global Impact at the UN Delegates Dining Room; was an AAN board member 2021-2023; is a National Academy of Medicine member; and sits on a Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Dr. Moss wrote an award-winning text, American Indian Health and Nursing (2015) followed by Health Equity and Nursing (2020). She was a RWJF Health Policy Fellow and staffed the Senate Special Committee on Aging; a Fulbright Research Chair at McGill University; and, co-led the Indigenous Strategic Plan for the University of British Columbia.

Rio Pérez (they/he) is a Venezuelan visual artist and educator raised in Mni Sota Makoce. As an artist, they use photo, video, and collage to tell stories about their family, diasporic experiences, and the simultaneous fragmentation and joy of being a queer Latine. Rio studied Art, Film & Visual Studies at Harvard University, with a focus on contemporary Latine and Latin American visual art. Having worked as an educator at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels, their professional goal is to co-create affirming community art spaces through their practice and increase arts access for BIPOC and queer youth. They are incredibly excited and grateful to be a part of the StorySeeds fellowship community this year.

2024 STORYSEEDS SCREENWRITING MENTOR

Raven Johnson is a Liberian-American filmmaker from Minnesota. Her work explores the realities of Black experiences in predominantly White spaces around the midwest. Raven is an assistant professor of Moving Images at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. She received her MFA in Filmmaking from NYU Tisch.

Raven is a 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, a 2023 McKnight Artist Fellow, a 2022 Locarno Film resident in Switzerland, a 2021 Jerome Foundation Artist Development Grant recipient, a 2021 Jerome Emerging Artist-in-Residence at the Anderson Center at Tower View, and a 2019-2020 Cannes Cinéfondation resident in Paris. In 2017, Raven was also named one of AT&T’s Emerging Filmmakers.

Her short films THE TRUCKER and TWEEN have played in dozens of film festivals including Palm Springs Shortfest, Minneapolis-St. Paul Film Festival, BFI, Denver Film Festival, and Cleveland International Film Festival.

Raven is in development on her debut feature which has already received support from SFFILM and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation.

Benefits of the Program
$600 Grant
Mentorship
A License of Final Draft (professional screenwriting software)
Skills in Screenwriting and Storytelling
Community of Fellow Artists and Mentors

Mamá Papaya

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