Blacktown Shorts Film Festival

CathoD’Souza is a writer and director whose work centres voices that are too rarely heard, with a visual language that makes audiences feel the weight of what’s at stake.

Her career has been marked by strong early recognition. The film I'd Never Date an Indian Girl (2025) had its Australian premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne and won both the People’s Choice Award, and Best Actress at its debut festival in New Zealand. Catho’s most recent film, I’m Still Here, was selected as a 2026 Tropfest Finalist. 

Catho is a vocal advocate for representation in the industry. In 2025 she moderated a panel at SXSW Sydney exploring how on-screen representation shapes audience self-worth. She has also built a TikTok community of 35,000 followers around her filmmaking.

Raeanne Chami is a producer passionate about telling stories that break boundaries and amplify voices too often left unheard. With over six years of experience across short films, commercials and music videos, she has worked across all facets of production, bringing ambitious ideas to life from development through to delivery.

Based in Western Sydney, Raeanne is committed to championing diversity and authentic representation, creating work that challenges convention and invites audiences into new perspectives. Alongside producing commercial campaigns for global brands including JD Sports, eBay, Spotify, adidas, Nike, and New Balance, she continues to pursue narrative storytelling with a focus on underrepresented voices.

Her narrative credits include the award-winning short film Towel Head, the Screen Australia-supported TikTok series The Crop Tops, and the 2026 Tropfest finalist I’m Still Here. Through both commercial and independent work, Raeanne is dedicated to creating meaningful, culturally resonant stories that connect with audiences.

Celeste Diep (she/her) is a Cambodian Australian trans filmmaker based in Sydney. She is a graduate of the AFTRS Masters of Screen Arts: Directing. 

Her film Interview with a Hero premiered in SXSW London, Atlanta Film Festival, Cambodia International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, MIFF, CinefestOz and Adelaide Film Festival and won the award for Best Director at St. Kilda Film Festiva and Best Film at ReelGood Film Festival. 

Her short Happy New Year, Ms. Luna won Best Film in the American Pavillion’s Showcase in Cannes. Celeste also won the Queer Screen Pitch-Off for Happy New Year, Ms. Luna which recently had it’s world premiere at the Mardi Gras Film Festival 2023 and was awarded a special mention at the Oscar-qualifying festival Flickerfest. 

She is currently a programmer at Queer Screen and Taiwan Film Festival in Australia, delivering the 2026 program at both Taiwan and Queer Screen Film Festival. She is now in development for a feature adaptation/spiritual sequel to Ms. Luna as well as a Trans erotic drama in The Hedgehog and the Fairy.

Chhayly Moek is a Sydney-based filmmaker from Cambodia whose work spans short live-action films and documentaries. He is a graduate from the Master of Arts Screen: Producing at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS). 

Chhayly works across multiple roles in filmmaking, including director, producer and editor. His background in marketing and business engineering informs his work ethic and processes. He produced the 2026 Tropfest-winning film Crescendo. His other producing work includes the short documentary Empress, which premiered at the 32nd Queer Screen Film Festival as part of the QueerDoc program, opened the Inner West Film Festival and is now streaming on DocPlay. 

His other producing works have also screened at/on St Kilda Film Festival, Multicultural Film Festival and SBS on Demand. 

Chhayly is committed to producing films with inclusive narratives that reflect intersectional experiences and aims to bridge creative passion with professional rigour as a producer.

Ranican Zapanta is a Filipino-Kiwi-Australian filmmaker born in Penrith and based in Blacktown. After completing a screenwriting degree at Macquarie University, Ranican pursued storytelling that reflects his lived experiences and perspectives. He had directed his first short film DEZO in 2025 which garnered success in Los Angeles. 

He had also worked on major productions filmed across Gold coast and Sydney, while also creating short films with the Curiously West Film Club. Passionate about the Western Sydney creative community, having recently completing the PYT 2026 ensemble Program and collaborating with ‘creatives in the neighbourhood’. 

Ranican values creating opportunities for filmmakers of all backgrounds to share their stories and wonderful talent. 

Daisy Montalvo is a Mount Druitt filmmaker and Creative Producer whose work is grounded in Western Sydney, multicultural storytelling and community. 

As a first-generation migrant who grew up in social housing in Mount Druitt, Daisy draws on her own experiences to create stories that reflect the complexity, humour and perspectives of culturally diverse communities. 

Daisy has produced Blacktown Shorts Tony’s Dream (2023), Prone to the Drone and feature film, From All Sides (2025). 

Kristone Capistrano is a Filipino-Australian artist working across traditional and experimental drawing. His practice explores mortality, transience and contemporary figuration, visualising paper as a metaphor for skin and mark-making as a form of human touch: a vehicle for generosity and care.
 
In a world of increasing AI and automation, Capistrano creates works that are decisively tactile, handmade and analogue. The death of his grandmother led him to use Filipino brooms and household tools as alternative instruments for drawing, an homage that unites mark-making, sweeping and erasure with shared memories of labour, sacrifice and hospitality embedded within the Filipino imagination.
 
Capistrano has exhibited in Australia and Asia, and has undertaken residencies at Bundanon Art Museum, Emerging Islands (Philippines), Tong Lau Space (HK) and the Sheen Center (NYC). Commissions include Movement Study: The Bridge, Kingston Arts (2025), 101 Graham Street, PHIVE, City of Parramatta (2022), and forthcoming permanent public artworks for the new Bradfield Station (Western Sydney Airport line), set to open in mid-2027. 

Recently, Capistrano held a solo exhibition at Firstdraft Gallery, Sydney. Upcoming projects include live drawing performances at the Vargas Museum, Philippines (July), and a solo presentation at Art Cube Gallery, Manila (August).

Arianne Bulanos is a Western Sydney-based curator, writer and arts worker on unceded Dharug land. Recently completing a Master of Curating and Cultural Leadership at UNSW Art & Design, her practice centres on community-driven storytelling, diasporic identity and collaborative exhibition-making, with a particular interest in culturally informed curatorial methodologies and audience engagement.

Arianne currently works in Artform Development at Creative Australia, supporting sector engagement initiatives, programs and projects across diverse contemporary arts practices. Previously, she worked across curatorial and exhibitions roles at Liverpool Powerhouse, contributing to exhibition development, artist liaison, registration, installation coordination and public programming.

Justin Cueno is a Filipino-Australian multidisciplinary artist, photographer, filmmaker and creative director born and raised in Western Sydney. Working across documentary, music, editorial and community led storytelling, Justin’s practice reflects his Filipino diaspora experience and the communities, relationships and cultural histories that have shaped him.

His work explores the Filipino diaspora of growing up in Australia, memories of childhood and lived experiences.  He often uses image-making as a way to honour the people and places that form his creative world. With a strong visual language across stills and motion, Justin’s practice is grounded in collaboration, intimacy and emotionally driven storytelling.

Justin has worked across major cultural, editorial and music spaces, including GQ Australia, Esquire Australia, Sydney Festival, Blacktown Arts, Powerhouse Museum, Common house Studios and Song for the Mute. His recent artistic projects include de-erasure, presented at Kudos Gallery, and One Degree of Separation, a Blacktown Arts-supported digital story exploring community as the foundation of his visual practice.

Beyond his commercial and editorial work, Justin is committed to creating work that uplifts Western Sydney and reflects the cultural richness of the Filipino-Australian experience. He was recognised on the 2024 UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture Dean’s List for academic excellence, further reflecting his commitment to both artistic practice and critical research.

Nicole Issa is a creative producer and multidisciplinary artist from South-West Sydney on Darug Land. Working across music, film and community arts, she is passionate about authentic storytelling and championing underrepresented voices.

For over four years, Nicole has been creative producer at Outloud, a leading youth arts organisation in Western Sydney, where she has delivered major projects including Stories From Here: An Audio Tour of Bankstown (Sydney Festival 2025), nominated for Best New Work at the Australian Podcast Awards, and the RESPECT and UNITY programs, which use music to prevent domestic and family violence in schools.

Nicole also co-produced He’s Not Here, a short film currently in post-production, directed by Chloe de Brito (Vivid Sydney 2024) and produced by COLLIDER. As a musician, she has toured internationally with Sofar Sounds, showcased at BIGSOUND, and received support from BBC Radio 1 and triple j. Through all of her work, Nicole is committed to elevating Western Sydney stories and creating pathways for Culturally and Creatively Diverse (CACD) artists.

Adrian Magno was once a Senior Design Engineer working on projects at Westpac, EY and UTS; but gave it up in a pursuit to do what the bigger half of him was dying to do for 10 years. Tell stories.

As a father of 4, he is drawn to family stories of longing. As a hopeless romantic, he can’t stop unseeing all the beautiful things around him that may or may not be there. Call it glass half full, but he’ll be damned if he ever stops seeing it.

As a wedding storyteller, he has boasted international film awards, receiving first in videography in NSW (2022) to then subsequently be awarded second in the nation (2024)

After a decade of telling real life stories, he now brings his abundance of experience to script writing.

Ralph A. Villegas is a second-generation Filipino cinematographer born and raised in Rooty Hill, Western Sydney. Growing up in a culturally diverse community has shaped the way he sees people, movement and the moments that connect them. His cinematography is defined by expressive handheld camera work and a strong sense of rhythm, creating images that feel immersive, intimate and alive.

Working across narrative, commercial, and branded films. Ralph has collaborated with clients including JD Sports, Helly Hansen, Arc’teryx, Converse All-Stars, and G-SHOCK. Whether filming on the streets of Western Sydney or on commercial productions, he is drawn to stories that feel honest and emotionally grounded. Through his work, Ralph hopes to contribute to a broader representation of Western Sydney on screen – capturing its people, cultures and everyday moments with energy, care and authenticity.
 

Vonne Patiag is a Filmmaker based in Western Sydney, Australia. His recent credits include writing and producing the 4-part TV series The Unusual Suspects for SBS, the feature anthology film Here Out West, released theatrically in early 2022 and writing on Significant Others, a 6-part TV drama for ABC. He was a participant in the TIFF Filmmaker Lab 2021, Talent USA 2022, and the MIFF Accelerator Lab 2024.

He show-ran and directed all episodes of comedy series Halal Gurls for ABC iView, and wrote and directed short films Tomgirl, which premiered on SBS Viceland and had its International Premiere at Palm Springs Shortsfest and Too Many Ethnics, which had its World Premiere at Flickerfest Short Film Festival. His latest short, Homo, was funded by the Short to Feature Fastrack Fund (Screen NSW) and had its World Premiere at Revelation Perth International Film Festival.          

Chidiebube Uba is a screen producer and programs curator of Igbo-Nigerian descent based in Dharug/Sydney, and is a graduate of Western Sydney University and the Australian Film Television and Radio School (MAS: Producing).

Her interdisciplinary and collaborative practice sits across screen and arts programming while centring social and cultural storytelling.

Chidiebube’s most recent short film works have screened both nationally and internationally with Spiders on My Lashline screening at MIFF 2026 and This Town Talks sitting as an opening film for the Art Gallery of NSW’s Sydney Cinémathèque Gossip program.

Alongside her screen work, she has developed and curated arts programs and events which align underrepresented communities and emerging industry leaders with creative opportunities through institutions such as Powerhouse Museum, Blacktown Arts’ Blacktown Shorts Film Festival, Arts and Cultural Exchange’s Screen Cultures Programming  and TEDx Sydney. Her independent practice has been further developed through programs such as Bus Stop Film’s Inclusive Producers program and Sydney Festival’s Festival Commons initiative.