CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2025 FEATURE CONTEST SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

CineStory is pleased to award seven scholarships for the 2025 Feature Retreat & Fellowship Contest. These scholarships are made possible in part by generous donations from members of the CineStory community

Many thanks to our donors, and congratulations to our scholarship winners!

(Pictured above, from left to right: Reenita Malhotra Hora; Carter Stewart; Jarrod Tallman; Gabe Ozaki; Cephra Stuart; Kathy Nyguen Li; Jolan Baucum Bastien)

Reenita Malhotra Hora – 2025 CineStory Asian & South Asian Writers Scholarship Winner

The 2025 CineStory Asian & South Asian Writers Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding Asian or South Asian writer whose screenplay reached the quarterfinalist level or higher in this year’s Feature Retreat & Fellowship Contest. The winner is awarded a $750 tuition reduction for this year’s feature retreat.

The winner of this year’s CineStory Asian & South Asian Writers Scholarship is Reenita Malhotra Hora for her script OPERATION MOM. In it, desperate to get her obsessive mom off her back, a feisty Indian-American eleventh-grader becomes her mother’s secret matchmaker only to find love herself.

Reenita Malhotra Hora is the unapologetic Nora Ephron of South Asian storytelling. Her work—spanning novels, screenplays, podcasts, and nonfiction—blends history, humor, and unapologetic Indian soul. Her award-winning novel VERMILION HARVEST – PLAYTIME AT THE BAGH won the Overall Grand Prize at the Chanticleer International Book Awards. Her YA rom-com OPERATION MOM advanced to the Sundance Institute Development Slate and The Writers Lab. Three of her projects are optioned for screen, including the animated fantasy SHADOW REALM. A former journalist (The New York Times, CNN,Bloomberg), she now creates stories that celebrate messy families, flawed characters, and bold cultural identity.

Carter Stewart – CineStory Black Voices Scholarship Winner

The 2025 CineStory Black Voices Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding Black writer whose screenplay reached the quarterfinalist level or higher in this year’s Feature Retreat & Fellowship Contest. The winner receives a $750 tuition reduction for this year’s feature retreat.

The winner of this year’s CineStory Black Voices Scholarship is Carter Stewart for his script FINDING NANTUCKET.

In it, a Black man born into the upper middle class who feels like he has not lived up to society’s expectations plans an elaborate party on Nantucket to cement his legacy and rescue his career. It all goes to hell when his lies to his friends and family are revealed, and he must decide what his true legacy will be.

An Atlanta native now living in New Jersey, Carter Stewart is a former presidentially-appointed United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of California. He writes stories based on his prior experiences as a lawyer, high school teacher, Court Appointed Special Advocate in the foster care system, and volunteer for adjudicated youth.

His first short film, LYRICAL, premiered at the 2024 Nantucket Film Festival, screened at multiple law schools around the country and over a dozen film festivals, winning Best Script at the Oxford International Shorts Film Festival and Best Jersey Short at the Jersey Shore Film Festival. He’s currently working on a second short film – ORACLE OF DELPHI, OHIO – as well as a documentary about Black women prosecutors.

Jarrod Tallman – CineStory Semifinalist & Finalist Scholarship Winner

The 2025 CineStory Semifinalist & Finalist Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding writer whose screenplay reached the semifinalist or finalist level in this year’s Feature Retreat & Fellowship Contest. The winner is awarded a $750 tuition reduction for this year’s feature retreat.

The winner of this year’s CineStory Semifinalist & Finalist Scholarship is Jarrod Tallman for his script ESCAPE FROM APE CANYON. In it, a woman avoiding her sister’s death must choose between safety or fighting for love when ancient hominids start tearing her friends apart in the wilderness around Mount St. Helens.

Jarrod Tallman is a creative director, producer, and video editor. Over the past three decades he’s directed surf films, documentaries, branded content, and music videos—including the video for Band of Horses’ “No One’s Gonna Love You.” As AV Director at Billabong, Jarrod led global campaigns, directed short and long-form projects, and earned Surfer Poll’s Movie of the Year for Still Filthy and Charleston Film Festival’s Audience Choice Award for Mundaka.

As an adult, Jarrod studied film, experimental writing, and philosophy at The Evergreen State College. More recently, he completed UCLA’s Professional Program in Screenwriting. His goal now is to write and direct feature films.

Jarrod’s screenplays depict damaged characters in absurd situations that rip apart the pretense of identity and civilization. His experience filming professional surfers in remote locations around the world can be seen in the way he uses nature as a central force in his storytelling.

Gabe Ozaki – CineStory Underrepresented Voices Scholarship Winner

The 2025 CineStory Underrepresented Voices Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding writer who belongs to a community that has been historically underrepresented in Hollywood – particularly BIPOC writers, AAPI writers, LGBTQIA+ writers, women writers who are 45 or older, and writers with disabilities – and whose screenplay reached the quarterfinalist level or higher in this year’s Feature Retreat & Fellowship Contest. The winner of the CineStory Underrepresented Voices Scholarship receives a $750 tuition reduction for this year’s feature retreat.

The winner of this year’s CineStory Underrepresented Voices Scholarship is Gabe Ozaki for his script ANTON SUCKS. In it, an awkward, pubescent vampire in [redacted] Romania seeks the key to acing the biggest opportunity of his life to earn his father’s approval in the face of overwhelming sexual frustration and generational tension.

Gabe Ozaki is a Chicago-based writer, actor, and comedian. Having received his undergraduate training at the University of Notre Dame, Gabe currently works in fundraising for theatre education. He is a self-described 24-year-old, bisexual-unless-you-look-at-his-dating-history, half-Turkish white boy with a penchant for above-average pastries. Whether performing Shakespeare in Prague or standup in an American dive bar, Gabe seeks to engage with work that holds a satirical mirror up to audiences. His newest script, the absurdist gothic-romantic-dramedy ANTON SUCKS, is described as “an absolute romp” by reviewers such as “his mom.” Gabe is always looking to explore more and more serious screenwriting opportunities. Outside of work and writing, he enjoys a good night dancing in Boystown, a lakeside run, and planning date nights for his very patient boyfriend of six years. More at gabeozaki.com.

Cephra Stuart – Hagan-Hicks Underrepresented Women’s Voices Scholarship Winner

The 2025 Hagan-Hicks Underrepresented Women’s Voices Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding woman writer from underrepresented groups including Black and African Americans, Latinx and Hispanics, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans whose screenplay reached the quarterfinalist level or higher in this year’s Feature Retreat & Fellowship Contest. This scholarship is made possible by a donation from Willie Hagan. The winner is awarded a $1,000 tuition reduction for this year’s feature retreat.

The winner of this year’s Hagan-Hicks Underrepresented Women’s Voices Scholarship is Cephra Stuart for her script SPIRIT LINES. In it, years after the unresolved disappearance of her sister, a Navajo woman uncovers a mysterious connection to a young girl across the country, leading her into a tangled web of science, memory, and the unseen forces that tie us together.

Cephra Stuart is an award-winning writer, director, and producer whose work has been recognized at multiple festivals including HollyShorts, the Austin Film Festival, and the Micheaux Film festival. Her debut feature, SAN FRANCISCO BAE, available to stream on YouTube has earned recognition for its fresh blend of romance, humor, and social commentary.

Cephra’s storytelling combines emotional truth, psychological insight, and cultural commentary, exploring themes of identity, ambition, belonging, and heartbreak. Whether she is in development or on set, Cephra creates layered, character-driven stories designed to entertain while sparking conversation and transformation.

Most recently, she has supported executives in creative development at Olive Bridge Entertainment, Mandalay Pictures, and State Street Pictures, contributing to the pitching and packaging of film and television projects. She was also a founding team member at Mansa, a streaming platform dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices.

Before transitioning into filmmaking full time, Cephra worked at The Walt Disney Studios, Twitter, and Bumble, advising executives on strategy, culture, and audience engagement. Across every role, she brings clarity, courage, and purpose, viewing storytelling as a space where vulnerability becomes strength, and truth becomes transformation.

Kathy Nguyen Li – Papa Bear Scholarship Winner

The 2025 Papa Bear Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding writer who is a military veteran or who is 40 or older and whose screenplay reached the quarterfinalist level or higher in this year’s Feature Retreat & Fellowship Contest. The Papa Bear Scholarship is given in honor of Bernard Donohue Jr. and is made possible by donations from his family. The winner is awarded a $1,000 tuition reduction for this year’s feature retreat.

The winner of the 2025 Papa Bear Scholarship is Kathy Nguyen Li for her screenplay NGUYEN OR LOSE. In it, after the naive youngest son of a Viet American refugee family crosses the wrong gang member, the family must come together to raise $250k to clear his head. Sure, they’re dysfunctional and amateurs, but family helps family, and if they can survive war and immigration, they can survive this too.

Kathy Nguyen Li is an Asian American screenwriter based in the Washington DC metro area. She writes authentic and heartfelt dramedies about exquisite and messy people and relationships. She’ll make you cry and laugh at the same time, informed by her 30+ years as a therapist, swimming in soul-crushing pain and despair with clients and somehow not drowning. Okay, she’s exaggerating. It’s 15+ years. And there may have been some drowning.

Her first feature script, REFUGE, was a 2023 Academy Nicholl Fellowship Semi-Finalist and winner of the Women in Film and Video (WIFV)-DC Narrative Script Development Fellowship (NSDF). Her second feature script, NGUYEN OR LOSE, won Screenplay of the Year at the Northern Virginia Film and was a Semi-Finalist in the Athena Writers Lab in 2025.

Jolan Baucum Bastien – Sartor Women’s Voices Scholarship Winner

The 2025 Sartor Women’s Voices Scholarship is awarded to a top woman writer who is 45 or older and whose screenplay reached the quarterfinalist level or higher in this year’s Feature Retreat & Fellowship Contest. This scholarships is made possible by donations from Colette Sartor and Lisanne Sartor. The winner receives a $1,500 tuition reduction to attend this year’s feature retreat.

The winner of the 2025 Sartor Women’s Voices Scholarship is Jolan Baucum Bastien for her script THE COMEBACK. In it, when a former child star’s comeback is threatened by career-ending accusations, he embarks on an image-sanitizing campaign only to find a sinister reckoning where he had hoped to find salvation.

Jolan Baucum Bastien is a Maryland screenwriter who writes primarily in the horror, thriller and sci-fi genres. The Pittsburgh native and mother of four is fascinated by the esoteric and fantastic and delights in writing complex characters whose journeys shed light on the nature of human existence. A former copy editor, project manager, and Realtor, Jolan uses her eclectic mix of experience, observation and curiosity to fuel stories that resonate with readers and audiences who appreciate layered storytelling.

Jolan was a ChaShaMa Resident in 2025, and has garnered Finalist accolades with the Blumhouse Sundance Screamwriting Fellowship, 2025; ScreenCraft Features, the AFF Enderby Entertainment Award, 2023; Semifinalist in Roadmap Writers’ Top Tier, Jump Start, and Coletta Preacely-Garcia Diversity Fellowship in 2025; Semifinalist in the WritersXWriters competition, 2024; and Quarterfinalist in The Golden Script Competition, 2025; the Cinestory Features Fellowship, 2022 and 2025; and the Filmmatic Inroads Fellowship, Season 5. Jolan was included in Coverfly’s Best Unrepped List and the AFF Producer’s List in 2023.

Jolan received her MFA in Professional Screenwriting and has been praised for her compelling characters, entertaining dialogue, strong emotional grounding, and her employ of traditional horror tropes to create engaging stories that unfold as popular entertainment.