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Frances Grace Mortel (she/her) is a Filipino photographer, filmmaker, and community organizer. Previously a production designer/art director in the Philippines, she now works as the Communications Strategist for APIC Spokane, serves as part of the board of directors for Spokane Film Project and Spokane International Film Festival, and a member of collectives Brown Girls Doc Mafia and Filipino American Artist Directory. In 2022, she won the Cinemetropolis Award for Best Local Short at Seattle Asian American Film Festival for her experimental film, Dear Nanay. She has exhibited across Washington state, screened in several film festivals across the United States and internationally, and is an incoming MFA student at Bard College’s Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts in New York.

The challenges of being a mother, immigrant, and queer artist of color fuel her commitment to tell and center stories that examine intersectional truths, navigate intergenerational and diasporic identities, and inspire social justice. Presently, she is based in the Pacific Northwest with her favorite people, Cory and Soleil, and their favorite cat, Maya.