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’s photography, filmmaking, and art celebrates the diversity of human experience through projects exploring how we live on the planet and with each other. Through his work, he is committed to art and action that seeks to deconstruct colonial worldviews and dismantle white supremacy culture.
Jason has worked in over 30 countries producing photojournalism, personal documentary, multimedia art, and short films. His work, which often includes socially engaged approaches, brings to life authentic narratives that recognize agency, authorship, and sovereignty for those in front of the camera while informing broader truths in social and environmental justice. His work has been recognized, published, exhibited, premiered, and presented online, in print, and at venues worldwide.
Jason is a grateful alumnus of the Missouri Photo Workshop, 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 Peacemaking (EnPAx) Arts Fellow. His work has been published, exhibited, premiered, and presented around the world in outlets and venues ranging from The New York Times, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Science Magazine, WWF, and The Nature Conservancy, to Mountainfilm, SxSW, Harvard, Yale, Duke, the New Mexico Museum of Art, UNESCO, San Francisco Art Institute, and USAID.
Dewi and Jason at the opening night of MY NAME IS NOT AMY at the Denver Film Festival. ©Jason DeWitt/DFF
