DEWI sungai

Dewi (day-wee) Sungai Marquis-Houston is a mixed-race Native Bornean mother, wife, and filmmaker who was born in Indonesia, adopted as an infant by white American parents, renamed “Amy," and raised in the U.S. in white suburbia. Dewi's experiences as a transracial adoptee led her to a filmmaking career that centers Indigenous voices and challenges narratives spun from white supremacy culture and colonialist worldviews. As an Indigenous transnational adoptee, being in close community with Native people across the U.S. has helped her heal from the impact of colonization on her own life and lineage.

Dewi has directed, cast, produced, filmed, and edited for a wide range of clients, including the BBC, The Discovery Channel, Exposure Labs, ProPublica, and nonprofit organizations like Rare. She is a proud member of the Asian American Documentary Network, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Cine Fe, Creative Nations, Film Fatales, Kin Theory, and Mountain Media Arts Collective.

Dewi's work has been supported by generous individuals, foundations, nonprofit organizations, production companies, media outlets, and brands. In addition to filmmaking, she also serves as a mentor, story consultant, workshop coach, guest instructor, festival programmer, festival juror, and panelist, with guest appearances ranging from Costa Rica to Yale.

Jason Houston

Jason Houston has spent his entire career committed to photography, film, and art that explores how we live on the planet and with each other through community, culture, and human experience. He works closely and collaboratively with the people he photographs and films—including using various socially engaged methods—to produce stories that bring to life authentic narratives that recognize authorship and sovereignty in communities; engage supporters, decision-makers, and the public; and inform conversations toward positive social and environmental change.

Through his work Jason is committed to art and action that seeks to deconstruct colonial worldviews and dismantle white supremacy culture.

Jason’s still images and short films have been recognized, published, exhibited, premiered, and presented online, in print, and at venues worldwide. For more than 8 years in the early 2000’s Jason worked as Photo Editor for Orion magazine, and he is a Senior Fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers; a Fellow at Wake Forest University’s Sabin Center for Environment and Sustainability; and the 2022 Environmental Peacebuilding (EnPAX) Arts Fellow. Jason has also presented, curated, run workshops, served on boards, and organized conference programming on working in cause-driven media for dozens of arts and other institutions

Dewi and Jason at the opening night of MY NAME IS NOT AMY at the Denver Film Festival. ©Jason DeWitt/DFF