CCNY student hopes to bring more representation of Indigenous perspectives on the screen

POSTED ON Nov 20, 2023

The City College of New York (CCNY) recently announced that Sisa Quispe, an MFA Film student, won the 2023 NYWIF Scholarship.

As one of seven film, television, and media production students at New York area schools to win the award, Sisa is a student in Film, Cinema, and Video Studies.

This award is a part of the organization’s ongoing commitment to nurturing the next generation of women in media.

In addition to receiving cash scholarships, scholarship winners become members of the NYWIF Next Wave program for emerging professionals.

Sisa is an Indigenous Quechua-Aymara from South America.

She is a writer, director, producer, and host who seeks to inspire the preservation of native ways while sharing a decolonizing message through her work.

Sisa hopes to bring more representation of Indigenous perspectives on the screen and to continue cultivating a path for Indigenous youth to develop their voices.

Sisa wrote, produced, and directed “Urpi: Her Last Wish,” which was filmed in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. She collaborated with Indigenous Quechua communities both in front of and behind the camera.

Furthermore, Sisa’s popular TEDx talk, “Re-thinking Who We Are Through a Decolonizing Lens,” shares her decolonization journey.

As the host of the Instagram series “Native Voices,” Sisa interviewed Indigenous people throughout Abya Yala/Turtle Island.

She also produced “Vive el Quechua (Living Quechua),” an episodic YouTube series that preserves and shares her Indigenous language and culture.

“NYWIFT’s mission is to build a more inclusive, welcoming, and sustainable working environment, and we accomplish that in no small part by cultivating new networking opportunities and raising the next generation of women industry leaders,” says NYWIFT CEO Cynthia Lopez.