Meet the 2023-2024 Storyline Apprentices

Kunga is a Tibetan Director, Cinematographer and Photographer hailing from Queens, NY. Son of an immigrant Taxi driver, his directing and photography work carries strong undercurrents of class, identity, and family. His film This is closest to how the last weeks of March felt like was curated at Short of the Week, and screened at festivals like NFFTY, and Tide Film Festival. He is the co-founder of a production Co-op “Are We There Yet?” a group of NYC filmmakers who specialize in making branded content and music videos. Clients include META, Ray Bans, Topicals, and Adolescent Content.

Courtney is a Black Southern poet, producer, editor, and impact producer dedicated to facilitating change through the sharing of stories. She served as lead producer of Silence Sam, which premiered at BlackStar Film Festival and has had impact-driven screenings across the country. As an educator, Courtney co-created the History Reclamation Project at Youth FX, an after-school production program in its third year, whose premiere documentary premiered on PBS’ WMHT channel. As an immersion resident with the School of Making and Thinking, Courtney produced and edited And You Can Point Towards The Horizon, a poetic VR meditation, which premiered at Cucalorus Film Festival in 2023. As an impact producer, she led the national impact campaign for the Emmy-nominated feature, The Neutral Ground, directed by CJ Hunt and produced by Darcy McKinnon. A 2018 NeXt Doc Fellow and one of Ms. Magazine’s 25 under 25 to watch, she works to drive viewers past the point of empathy to the point of healing and action.