priya vashist
Filmmaker. Educator.
Shroom Soup (2025)
Jude, a young Asian American non-binary teenager grieving their father's death struggles to reconnect with their mother.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
• Screenwriter/ Director/ Editor.
• Official Selection of Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Festival HAAPIFEST (2025).
In True Color (2024)
A young woman worries her religious mother won't accept her queer identity. What unfolds, surprises them both.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
• Director/ Editor.
So To Speak (2025)
SO TO SPEAK, a coming-of-age fiction film, follows Morena’s desire to express and enjoy her freedom. Yet, others try to control her. Through artmaking, she digs into her sexual herstory, including her pivotal relationships with lovers, friends, and family.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
• Co-Producer/ DIT. Written and Directed by Celine Parreñas Shimizu.
• San Francisco Independent Film Festival, February 7, 2025
• Chauri Chaura International Film Festival, February 22-23, 2025
• The Brightside Film Festival, March 8, 2025
• CEBU International Film Festival, March 15, 2025
• Feminist Border Arts Film Festival, June 6, 2025
• LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival, July 13, 2025
• Berlin Indie Film Festival, September 2, 2025
• Anatolia International Film Festival, 2025
• Cine Paris Film Festival, 2025
• WRPN Women’s International Film Festival, 2025
• IndieX Film Festival, 2025
• Maryland International Film Festival, 2025
Out Breaking (2023)
A queer international student on a visa, is left with no choice but to continue working off-campus illegally to make her ends meet despite being infected by COVID-19.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
• Screenwriter/ Director/ Editor.
• Award winner for second place best screenplay at Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival – an Academy Award qualifying festival (2021).
• Screenplay was an official selection and Finalist at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival -an Academy award qualifying, BAFTA qualifying and Canadian Screen Award qualifying film festival (2021).
• Official selection of and presented at University Film and Video Association (UFVA) Conference.
Yet So Far (2022)
Anisha and Sharon, two queer women, reignite their romance once Anisha lets go of her fears and insecurities stemming from her cultural identity.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
• Writer/ Director/ Editor.
• Screenplay was an official selection and semifinalist Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival -an Academy award qualifying, BAFTA qualifying and Canadian Screen Award qualifying film festival. (2021)
• Screenplay was an official selection of and presented at University Film and Video Association (UFVA) Conference 2021.
Hunton Y: A Hope for Change (2022)
Hunton Y : A Hope for Change, a short documentary, tells the story of William A. Hunton YMCA which was found in 1875 in Norfolk, VA. This legacy YMCA has served the poorest community of Norfolk for more than 100 years but its days now may be numbered due to the city's new redevelopment plans.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
• Director/ Editor.
• Semifinalist at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival -an Academy award qualifying, BAFTA qualifying and Canadian Screen Award qualifying film festival. (2022)
Do You Know Me? (2021)
This short performative documentary is a poignant collection of personal stories and slam poetry about experienced racism, homophobia, disability, and sexual assault by a group of people of color belonging to black, indigenous, immigrant, and mixed racial backgrounds.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
• Co-director/ Editor.
• Awarded Faculty Certificate of Merit for Achievement in Film Editing at Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (2021).
• Official selection of and presented at University Film and Video Association (UFVA) Conference 2021.
Touching Shadows (2019)
Following her two years long space travel, while coming back, Evelyn accidentally travels to a lifeless parallel universe. In this universe, she finds her lover Melissa in a much different way than she expected.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
• Writer/ Director/ Editor.
• Official selection of San Francisco Another Hole in the Head Film Festival (2019).
• Official selection and award winner at LTUE International Film Festival (2020).
Love is Danger (2022)
A queer white man struggles between conflicting identities - of who he is and who he was raised to be by his conservative family.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
• Director/ Editor.
• Official selection of New Renaissance Film Festival, London, UK (2023). Film was also nominated for Best Short Film award.