Concordia Studio has reeled in a roster of filmmakers to receive its Concordia Fellowship for 2026.
The fellows are Elizabeth Ai, Sue Ding, Julian Brave NoiseCat and Alejandra Vasquez, filmmakers singled out based on their “creative drive, cultural ambition and proven ability to tell stories that must be told,” per Concordia. The fellowship, designed to boost their creative careers, offers mentorship from veterans in the field as well as industry executives, while Concordia offers up its own production resources and studio facilities.
Year-round programming includes guest visits and masterclasses with the likes of Geeta Gandbhir, Tabitha Jackson, Sheila Nevins and staffers from Netflix, Magnolia Pictures, Sundance, Neon and Impact Partners. Concordia Fellows are picked by direct invitation or by nomination. Handling nominations for the latest roster were Chicken & Egg Films and the International Documentary Association. Concordia’s executive vp Rahdi Taylor and senior vp Jess Kwan led the initiative for their company.
“Their unstoppable drive to make bold new work ignites the creative imagination, on screen and beyond,” said Taylor in a statement. “Each of these four filmmakers brings a vital and vibrant storytelling voice to the world and we’re proud to help them develop new nonfiction films.”
Ai, a Chinese Vietnamese American filmmaker and writer, focuses on rebels and outsiders of mainstream culture. She made her feature documentary debut with New Wave, which premiered in competition at Tribeca Festival and landed her a special jury mention.
Ding, a filmmaker and visual artist in Los Angeles, focuses her lens on power, place and perspective. Sue directed and edited the short documentaries The Claudia Kishi Club, Makeover Movie and How the West Was Fun.
NoiseCat, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, teamed with filmmaker Emily Kassie on Sugarcane. After its Sundance debut, the film went on to win a directing prize at the festival and land Peabody and Academy Award nominations. His first book, We Survived the Night, published in 2025 by Alfred A. Knopf, is a finalist for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for nonfiction.
Vasquez, a Mexican-American filmmaker, trains her work on youth, art, culture typically in rural and borderland environments. She made her feature directorial debut with Sam Osborn on Going Varsity in Mariachi, which premiered at Sundance and won the Jonathan Oppenheim editing award.
Guggenheim founded Concordia Studio in 2020 in partnership with Laurene Powell Jobs and Emerson Collective. Its big hits across these past six years include Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which won an Oscar and a Sundance grand jury prize, and Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s Boys State, which won an Emmy and a Sundance grand jury prize.
