eight16creative

Jason Houston and Déwi Sungai Marquis-Houston are life and creative partners who have been building a foundation of friendship, trust, empowerment, and creative expression since 2010. Our combined decades of experience is manifested in our new visual storytelling company, eight16creative.

Our work represents a deep love and concern for racial justice, Indigenous-centered voices, and the rebalancing of humanity’s relationships with Earth and each other. We serve to correct harmful narratives that carve destructive paths into our communities and minds. We are committed to breaking from dominant settler storytelling and colonial worldviews.

We are dedicated not only to the finished product, but also the path that gets us there. Thoughtful authorship, ethical representation on and off screen, relationship, reciprocity, respect, and agency guide our practice. We recognize the incredible honor and responsibility that comes with collaborating with people who trust us to help share their stories.

We do commissioned documentaries, editorial assignments, commercial gigs, and independent nonfiction projects.

View some samples below.

(in post-production)

MY NAME IS NOT AMY

We've been telling ourselves the wrong stories. About who we are, what we're connected to, what we're made of, where we came from. And it's causing enormous harm— to ourselves, each other, and the Earth.

What started as a very personal film project correcting the narrative of Dewi’s own life has extended far beyond her and her adoption story alone. She’s connecting with other truth keepers who are articulating honest stories of humanity, and an Indigenous future. Many are Native, but not all. Each knows intimately the work of decolonizing themselves. Some are human, some are not. They have seen the world through this lens for much longer than she has; Jason and Dewi are simply showing up, listening, and creating art to honor it all.

If you want to support this project, make a connection, or collaborate, please reach out.

IN POST-PRODUCTION
DIRECTOR AND EDITOR: Déwi Sungai
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Jason Houston
MENTOR: John Van Wyck / Cine Fe
MUSIC: “After the Storm” by Kevin Richard Martin + Hatis Noit
WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM: Cine Fe, Studio IX Mother Project, BGDM, Kin Theory, Film Fatales, Adoption Mosaic, Right Relationship Boulder, all of the Ancestors whose names we know and don’t know, Spirit Guides, Grandmother Earth, and our Medicine Family