Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Sun Roller
Welcome to NYWIFT, Sun Roller! Sun Roller is a Chickasaw creative and producer raised in Oklahoma and based in New York City. With a career spanning production design, art direction, project management, and large-scale leadership, Sun Roller brings a deeply intentional, intuitive approach to every project she touches—grounded in spirituality, connection to nature, and collaboration. Sun Roller has worked across film and television on projects including Reservation Dogs, I Saw the TV Glow, Poker Face and The Lowdown. In recent years, she has expanded her work into producing, with a focus on Indigenous-led stories and community-centered narratives. When she’s not on set or behind a computer, Sun Roller can often be found outdoors soaking up the Sun and enjoying time in nature with her elder pup, Wrigley, and her partner, Annie H. In our interview, Sun Roller reflects on her path into film and television, building a career across male-dominated industries, and the stories she’s most excited to bring to the screen next.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Juleyka Lantigua
Welcome to NYWIFT, Juleyka Lantigua! Juleyka is an award-winning filmmaker, journalist, and the Founder of LWC Studios, a digital media studio dedicated to creating socially conscious storytelling for rising-majority audiences. As a filmmaker, she has executive produced multiple short films and documentaries, including the Peabody Award-nominated podcast series 70 Million through LWC Studios. A Fulbright Scholar with a Master’s degree in Journalism and an MFA in Creative Writing, Juleyka brings a multidisciplinary approach to storytelling—one that blends rigorous reporting with deeply human narratives across platforms.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Bakhtawar Tagar
Welcome to NYWIFT, Bakhtawar Tagar! Bakhtawar is a Pakistani-Canadian documentary filmmaker and editor based in Brooklyn. Her work is rooted in amplifying marginalized voices through stories centered on indigenous land rights, environmental and human rights justice, decolonization, women's rights, and LGBTQ+ advocacy. A lifelong storyteller, Bakhtawar grew up devouring books, magazines, and news stories. In her 20s, witnessing the persecution of minority communities in Pakistan, while much of the world remained unaware, she felt a responsibility to bring these stories to light, with the hope of making the world a little more just, one story at a time. Bakhtawar’s short documentary Naaz, which follows her aunt, Dr. Farah Naz, a healthcare provider in a rural village in Pakistan working to keep her not-for-profit maternal health clinic open amid systemic and personal challenges, recently won Best Editing at the Delhi International Short Film Festival and is set to screen at the Athena Film Festival in New York City in March. In our interview, she discussed her journey into documentary filmmaking, her commitment to social justice storytelling, and the responsibility she feels toward the stories she tells.
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