Congratulations to the Three Queens Who Are Reel Sisters 2026 Fellows!
First, we want to thank the more than 77+ women of color for submitting their stories to our Reel Sisters Micro Budget Film Fellowship — we hope you find the support you need to produce your short film, pilot or web series!
The final choice was so difficult to make because we received so many excellent screenplays with complex and interesting characters.
Our jurors chose the three micro budget fellows from a very competitive pool of 11 finalists. It is our sincere wish we could have supported our finalists.
We are asking you to support finalists who are featured on our Fellowship page as Honorable Mentions!
A special extra thanks to our jurors for making incredibly hard decisions.
INTRODUCING REEL SISTERS 2026 MICRO BUDGET FELLOWS
FILM PROJECT:
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Halle Hazzard
Halle Hazzard is a writer, director, and former track and field athlete from Long Island, New York, who represented Grenada at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. As a first-generation Caribbean-American of Trinidadian and Grenadian heritage, Halle explores themes of identity, memory, and belonging throughout the Caribbean diaspora.
Halle came to filmmaking while still competing, earning a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in Journalism and Documentary Filmmaking from the University of Southern California. In 2023, she directed, shot, and edited Finding Balance, a documentary on mental health and athlete identity in women's elite gymnastics. The film aired on Spectrum News 1 SoCal, reaching more than six million households across Southern California. Building on her documentary work, Halle has since expanded into narrative filmmaking, bringing a literary foundation in fiction and poetry to the screen. Her original screenplay, Home, a magical realist coming-of-age story rooted in Trinidadian culture, advanced to the final round of the Brooklyn Film Festival Exchange pitch competition and was also selected for a live table read with Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival. Halle has worked on professional film productions with Her House Media and Project Feel, and has served as a documentary mentor for Reel Works Teen Filmmaking. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in African Voices Magazine, Wellspring Words, and are forthcoming in The Caribbean Writer and volume 8 of PEN America’s DREAMing Out Loud Anthology.
Micro Budget Fellow Statement:
I am so honored to have been selected as a Reel Sisters Microbudget Fellow for my short film “Home”, a story I wrote in memory of my grandmother whom I dreamt of reuniting with years after her passing. Although deeply personal, this story holds a universal message that home is not just a place, but something that’s carried through the people we love, even long after they are gone. It’s heartwarming to know that Reel Sisters believes in my vision, and can provide the financial support to bring this film to life. I am endlessly grateful to be part of an organization that champions the creative minds of female POC filmmakers.
Home website: https://homebyhalle.com
Instagram: @hallehazzard
FILM PROJECT:
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Richa Rudola
Richa Rudola is an award-winning Indian American filmmaker whose work explores women’s interior lives, particularly the identities and transformations that often go unseen. Her short Cow Heavy And Floral, inspired by her own journey into motherhood, uses inventive storytelling to examine the fractured experience of postpartum identity and has become a catalyst for conversations around maternal mental health. Her forthcoming short Zeenat And The Men Who Give Her Pause turns to midlife, exploring menopause, invisibility, longing, and self-reclamation through a South Asian woman’s quiet awakening. With a background spanning both analytical and creative worlds, she is drawn to stories that engage the mind and the heart, blending intellectual curiosity with emotional depth.
Micro Budget Fellow Statement:
I am deeply honored to be selected as a Reel Sisters Micro Budget Fellow and especially proud to return to this community as an alumna. Reel Sisters has long championed women filmmakers and stories that deserve to be seen, and its belief in Zeenat And The Men Who Give Her Pause gives our team both meaningful support and momentum as we bring this deeply personal story to the screen. I’m especially excited for the film to begin its life within a community that understands the power of women telling stories about our interior lives on our own terms.FILM PROJECT: Cold Feat
Logline | A suburban physical therapist has committed her life to helping others while sitting on the sidelines of her own dreams of ballroom dancing. After an embarrassing encounter with the new instructor in town, she must choose between listening to critics who tell her that her body is too big and ethnic for ballroom dancing, and purse the flame in her heart that longs to waltz.
Morgan Alicia Smith
Morgan Alicia Smith is a New York based filmmaker who has spent her lifetime in love with film, television, and theatre. After directing her first play at age 17, Morgan earned her undergraduate degree in Geology while also getting minors in Music and Theater. She found ways to keep her passions for storytelling alive by writing and producing stories for Milwaukee PBS, and broadcast news in Wisconsin and Texas. Morgan's path took a circuitous route when she found herself creating animated/graphical content, and running the in-game entertainment efforts for the Texas Stars, a minor league hockey team in Austin. Still, Morgan made time for her personal creative endeavors by writing plays for local festivals. She even wrote and performed a one-woman show, which took her to the finals of a fringe play competition. But when COVID hit and she was laid off from her job, Morgan took a chance at school again, and found herself in Columbia University's Creative Film Producing MFA program. Morgan hopes to put her degree to work telling stories about women, and for women who are underrepresented in mainstream media.
Micro Budget Fellow Statement:
I am beyond grateful that Reel Sisters exists as a resource for artists like me. Being chosen as a Reel Sisters Fellow is an incredible opportunity, and a leap toward making my thesis film, which seeks to honor women who dare to dream in a world that too-often encourages them to give up. Reel Sisters actively offers a helping-hand that converts hopes into reality, and I am humbled and honored to be included.