After an incredibly impressive round of applications, we are excited to announce our 2026 cohort for the Diverse Voices in Docs Fellowship.
Pictured Top Row L – R: Willie Round, Nkaujoua Xiong, Nateya Taylor Bottom Row L – R: Danielle Cortes DeVito, Jose Luis Benavides, Christen Slaughter
WILLIE ROUND – THE LAWNDALE KING: Few remember that Martin Luther King Jr. once lived in North Lawndale, standing on the front lines of the Chicago Freedom Movement. Through one artist’s journey to create The Lawndale King, this documentary resurrects that hidden history and examines what his unfinished fight means today.
NKAUJOUA XIONG – A HMONG SOLDIER’S SUITCASE: American soldiers often return home with duffel bags and rucksacks but what did a Hmong soldier return with? Through objects carried in a Thai plastic bag and music, a Hmong veteran recalls his homeland and the intimate memories of serving in the Secret War in Laos.
NATEYA TAYLOR – 14TH: When Metcalfe Park’s only grocery store abruptly closes, the majority-Black Milwaukee neighborhood is left without reliable access to food and forced to confront the consequences of decades of segregation and disinvestment, becoming the city’s 14th food desert. The film follows Metcalfe Park neighbors, families, and local officials as they organize in a grassroots fight against hunger. Told through an intimate, vérité lens, the project not only captures a community struggling to survive, but also collective resilience as residents work to claim lasting control over its food system and future.
DANIELLE CORTES DEVITO – ENGINE 21: Engine 21 traces the legacy of Chicago’s first paid, all-Black fire brigade, born out of exclusion after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and reveals how its impact continues today through the Chicago Black firefighters and mentors shaping the next generation of first responders.
JOSE LUIS BENAVIDES – LULU IN THE CITY: In a reflexive, experimental collage of home movies, archival fragments, reenactments, and intimate audio interviews, a filmmaker reconstructs his mother Lulu’s memories of neon-lit 1980s–90s Chicago, tracing her life as a lesbian Latina through the nonlinear rhythms of “queer time,” pulsing with Latin rhythms and the energy of queer nightlife. Through this intimate act of intergenerational storytelling, personal history and community activism intertwine to retell erased narratives, reimagine kinship, and forge a living archive of belonging.
CHRISTEN SLAUGHTER – THE REAL STEELE: MESSAGES FROM THE MIC: Directed by his granddaughter, Messages from the Mic chronicles the life, resilience, and lasting impact of Chicago Black radio legend, Richard Steele, whose voice helped shape the sound and cultural memory of Chicago.
