Meet the mentors of the 2021 #OTVFellows

The #OTVFellows program identifies and supports promising talent within the OTV community to support the development of a new project. Designed for emerging writers and directors, the Fellows program trains talented artists in the fundamentals of project and career development, preparing them to launch careers in the industry.

Each fellow is supported by a talented and experienced mentor. These are the mentors for our 2021 class of fellows.

MEET THE mentors

SAM BAILEY

MENTEE: Maya Lori (Chickweed Magik)

SAM BAILEY (she/her) is a writer, director and actor from Chicago. She is the creator of the Gotham-nominated webseries You’re So Talented and co-creator of the Emmy-nominated webseries Brown Girls.

Sam is a Root 100 Honoree and has been included on Newcity's Film 50 list as well as the Forbes 30 under 30 Hollywood list. Sam is a producer/writer and director on the fourth and final season of Netflix's Dear White People.

She has directed multiple episodes of television including Grown-ish and The Chi; as well as music videos for artists like Shea Coulee and Jamila Woods. 

RACHEL GREENHOE

MENTEE: Marlo A. Viriña (ManicMan!)

RACHEL GREENHOE (she/her) is a playwright and script doctor based in LA. Her work focuses on themes of disability and queerness. She makes amazing chocolate chip cookies.

FAWZIA MIRZA

MENTEE: Lena Elmeligy (Ghareeb)

FAWZIA MIRZA (she/they) is a queer, Muslim, Pakistani-Indian-Canadian-American, She and They, former actor turned writer/director. She’s made web series, short films, her first feature SIGNATURE MOVE world premiered at SXSW, traveled to over 150 film festivals around the world, won the Grand Jury Prize at Outfest and is distributed by Music Box Films and Bohemia UK. She’s working on several projects at all times.

Her short film NOOR & LAYLA about queer Muslim love, romance and reclaiming ritual is currently on the festival circuit and was produced in conjunction with CBC, FAE PICTURES and her wife, Andria Wilson Mirza. She directed the upcoming SYED FAMILY XMAS EVE GAME NIGHT, a queer Muslim, Christmas romcom, world premiering Fall 2021.

She finished directing and writing on the second season of the award-winning queer TikTok series HIDDEN CANYONS and goes into production on her next short film GROUP TEXT which she wrote/will direct, produced by Powderkeg and the amazing Paul Feig.

Her feature film she wrote and will direct, ME, MY MOM & SHARMILA, has been supported by the TIFF Writer’s Studio and Filmmaker Lab, SFFILM, and the Canada Council for the Arts and inshallah goes into production 2022.

CHANELLE APONTE PEARSON

MENTEE: Adia Ivey (MANIFOLD)

CHANELLE APONTE PEARSON (she/her/they/them) has been creating narrative, documentary, and experimental content as an award-winning producer, director, and writer for over 13 years. She is executive producer for the Peabody Award-winning HBO series RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS, producer for the critically acclaimed feature AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY, and co-director for the Webby Award-winning microfilm THE WAY IT SHOULD BE. Chanelle began directing in 2015 with the documentary digital series BROOKLYN IS MASQUERADING AS THE WORLD. That same year, she became the Spotlight on Women Directors “Live the Dream” Gotham Award grant winner. Her narrative debut, 195 LEWIS, went on to win Best Breakthrough Short Form Series at the 2018 Gotham Awards.

Chanelle is a proud member of the New Negress Film Society, a creative collective centering the lives and experiences of Black women and non-binary people. Here, she organizes public programming and oversees a slate of narrative, documentary, and experimental films and serial content.

Prior to her role at the New Negress Film Society, Chanelle was senior producer and chief operating officer at MVMT, the Brooklyn-based film production company responsible for over 18 film and digital projects including AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY (2012), BROOKLYN IS MASQUERADING AS THE WORLD (2015), THEY CHARGE FOR THE SUN (2016), 195 LEWIS (2017), and RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS (2018).

Chanelle's commitment to centering the lives of marginalized communities began as a program manager and policy researcher. She holds a bachelor's degree from DePauw University and graduated from New York University with a master of public administration. She is a visiting faculty member at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and teaches film at DCTV, a community media center in New York City.

Chanelle currently lives and works in her hometown, The Bronx.