Øcean Vashti Jude is an award-winning filmmaker whose stated mission is to unravel the truth of the unseen and unheard through the film landscape. A precise storyteller, Vashti Jude focuses on the human condition and the characters of fiction she creates. “It is my objective to speak truths of my communities and of the characters I place inside my worlds,” she says. “I have always directed from a place of light and precision because I am my mother’s daughter.” Her short Prudence about a grieving elderly queer black WWII nurse has screened in over 20 countries and received 8 best short narrative awards. In 2018 she directed the GLAAD award-winning House of Mamis, a six-part docu series about the queer voguing scene in Mexico City. ​In the commercial world, Vashti Jude has worked with brands such as P&G, Citi Bank, INTO, Besitos, NETFLIX and more. ​And she continues to develop her feature and TV projects, including Mexican reality-TV series “The Category Is,” about how ballroom culture has evolved beyond New York City and grown to shape queer communities throughout the world.