The Jaya Award is given to a filmmaker whose film features a woman leader at the story’s center. The winning film screens at the Athena Film Festival, and the filmmaker receives a $10,000 grant as part of the award.
2025 Jaya Award Winner
Jalene Keane-Lee, director of Standing Above the Cloud
Jalena Keane-Lee is a director, cinematographer, and producer who explores interpersonal and systemic trauma and intergenerational healing. Jalena is the co-founder of Breaktide Productions, an all women of color video production company rooted in intersectional solidarity. Breaktide has carried out national video campaigns for brands like Nike and Thinx, and their branded content has won two Cannes Lion awards — and in 2019, Breaktide was named to YBCA’s 100 list of changemakers. Her films have screened at the UN, HIFF, CAAMFest, and LAAPFF. She has been supported by NeXt Doc, The Jacob Burns Creative Culture Fellowship, PIC, and Nia Tero.
About Standing Above the Clouds
When the massive Thirty Meter Telescope is proposed to be built on Mauna Kea, an uprising of kiaʻi (protectors) in Hawaiʻi and around the world dedicate their lives to protecting the sacred mountain from destruction. Through the lens of mothers and daughters in three Native Hawaiian families, STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS explores intergenerational healing and the impacts of safeguarding cultural traditions.
Inaugural Jaya Award Winner
Erica Trembly, director of Fancy Dance
Erica Tremblay is a writer and director from the Seneca-Cayuga Nation. Her feature film FANCY DANCE premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and also screened at SXSW and The London Film Festival. Her short film LITTLE CHIEF premiered at Sundance in 2020. Tremblay was the executive story editor on the AMC series, DARK WINDS. She was also the executive story editor on season two of RESERVATION DOGS at FX and she co-produced season three in addition to directing. Tremblay lives on Cayuga Lake in upstate New York, where she studies her Indigenous language.
About Fancy Dance
Following her sister’s disappearance, a Native American hustler kidnaps her niece from the child’s white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in hopes of keeping what is left of their family intact. Fancy Dance is set to make its debut in theaters and on Apple TV+ this year.
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