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.
2026 Jaya Award Winner
Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, Cutting Through Rocks
Sara Khaki is a documentary director, producer, and editor dedicated to telling stories that promote gender equity. She is a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award winner, World Cinema Documentary and Visions Du Reél Audience Award winner for her feature documentary Cutting Through Rocks, which follows the first elected councilwoman of a rural Iranian village. The film has been called “a deftly shaped work of cinematic nonfiction” by Indiewire and “one of those profound vérité documentaries that are only possible through the patience and perseverance of the filmmakers” by POV Magazine.
Her short film Our Iranian Lockdown is now streaming on The Guardian and received an IDA Awards nomination. Sara’s co-directed Netflix Original Convergence: Courage in a Crisis was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Current Affairs Film. Sara graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore with a BFA in cinematic arts and from the School of Visual Arts with an MFA in social documentary filmmaking. A grantee of the Sundance Film Institute, Chicken & Egg Films, and Firelight Media, Sara’s work continues to amplify change on gender equity through the cinéma vérité form.
Mohammadreza Eyni is director, producer, and cinematographer, whose career and cinematic approach aims to bridge boundaries, elevate underrepresented voices, and connect diverse perspectives globally. He is a 2025 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award winner in the World Documentary competition for his feature documentary Cutting Through Rocks, which has become an audience favorite at Sydney, Hot Docs, Visions Du Reél international film festivals, among others. His cinematic approach has been heralded as “uniquely propulsive,” “practically magical” (Variety) and “precisely lensed” (Indiewire) as well as “delivering simple moments into cinematic poetry” (Hammer to Nail.) He was named as one of the top five cinematographers to watch at Sundance in 2025.
His intimate short film Our Iranian Lockdown, streaming on The Guardian, has received an IDA Awards nomination. His co-directed Netflix Original Convergence: Courage in a Crisis was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Current Affairs Film. Mohammadreza has been supported by Sundance Institute, IDFA Bertha Foundation, Hot Docs Cross Current Doc Fund, among others. He is a Tribeca Film Institute alumnus and graduated with an MFA in cinema from Tehran University of Fine Arts.
About Cutting Through Rocks
As the first elected councilwoman of her remote Iranian village, Sara Shahverdi fearlessly breaks patriarchal traditions by training teenage girls to ride motorcycles and stopping child marriages. When accusations arise questioning Sara’s intentions to empower the girls, her identity is put in turmoil.
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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