EXCLUSIVE: Wavelength has revealed the 2025 recipients of its WAVE Grant. Pratima Mani, Shanice Brette, Ana Chavez, Erika Yang, and Lauryn Darden & Ragan Henderson each will receive $5,000 to create their first short film alongside production mentorship from Wavelength’s executive team. Read a bio for each recipient below.
The WAVE Grant, which stands for “Women at the Very Edge,” aims to help a female or non-binary first-time filmmaker of color with the production of their first short film. In addition to the grant, Wavelength — the production company behind such films as Thank You Very Much and Athlete A — provides mentorship in the producing, development and post-production of the filmmaker’s story as well as fundraising and distribution strategy.
“We’ve built a grant program that doesn’t just support first-time filmmakers\ but actively launches them into careers in film and television,” said Jenifer Westphal, Wavelength’s founder, CEO and executive producer. “It’s all about access, opportunity and long-term impact. Every single WAVE Grant recipient is still working in this industry today, and that’s not a coincidence — it’s proof that our investment in these voices is working.”
Since its inception, the WAVE Grant has distributed nearly $100,000 in funding, supporting 19 short films with more than 10 festival premieres. All of its grantees are actively working in the industry today.
Here are the bios for the 2025 WAVE Grant class:
Pratima Mani is a three-time Emmy- and two-time WGA-nominated writer and performer based in NYC, currently writing for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. With roots in live comedy, she has written for Upright Citizens Brigade Theater’s Maude Night and Reductress and is an alum of Spotify’s Sound Up podcast bootcamp for women of color. Her short film, Stitched, screened at festivals including HollyShorts and CAAM Fest, winning Best Short at IFFSA. Her latest short, Bug, follows a woman at her long-awaited green card interview, only to discover an unexpected final step.
Shanice Brette is a writer and director from Castries, Saint Lucia, now based in NYC. Growing up in Brooklyn’s Little Caribbean, she found her voice telling layered stories of Afro-Caribbean immigrant women. She works as an art director, collaborating with filmmakers to shape their worlds, and is currently developing Mumma, a short film about a St. Lucian immigrant navigating impending motherhood, family traditions and a deep yearning for her roots.
Ana Chavez is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and video artist exploring identity, sexuality and memory through a hybrid filmmaking approach. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara’s Film program, her short script Her and I won Best Screenplay at the Santa Barbara Film Festival’s 10-10-10 Program. Inspired by L.A.’s underground rave scene, Chavez sees her work as a diary of fleeting moments. Her short film, Blush, follows the lives of teen girls growing up in Singapore.
Erika Yang is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and software engineer from Knoxville, TN. She tells stories about the small moments that shape everyday life, drawing from her background in computer science and film studies at MIT. In her free time, she enjoys thrifting, lyra and whatever side quests she stumbles upon. Her short film, Pit Stops, is told through the eyes of the youngest child as a family of four stocks up for a moving road trip.
Lauryn Darden & Ragan Henderson are NYU Tisch graduates and filmmakers dedicated to crafting stories that create safe spaces and amplify overlooked perspectives. Darden’s work focuses on the voices of older Black individuals, with her award-winning feature screenplay The Later Years earning recognition at the National Black Film Festival. Henderson, a director and image maker, seeks to humanize those marginalized by society, with her work featured at the MET Museum and in Vogue and Rolling Stone. Their short film, When They’re Gone, follows two elderly men who form an unexpected bond over grief and love after a chance encounter at a graveyard.
