Name: Rayan Elzein

Recipient Year: 2026

Major: MFA in TV & Screenwriting

Description: Rayan Elzein is a Metro-Detroit based Muslim filmmaker and proud daughter of Lebanese immigrants, whose work centers on the intersection of arts and advocacy. After earning her Bachelors of Arts in Film with a minor in Anthropology from Wayne State University, Rayan founded Heaven’s Gate Productions to challenge harmful orientalist tropes and stereotypes long upheld by the motion picture industry, instead showcasing her community in roles of power and personal autonomy. From fantasy to comedy and all the winding avenues in between, her writing and directing explore the preservation of heritage, pursuit of self-actualization, and uncovering our relationship with the universe. Her coming-of-age script “Some things never change.” was awarded at the 2024 BEA Festival of Media Arts and is being extended into a feature as an Official Selection of the Stowe Story Labs Fall 2026 Producers’ Lab. Her first short film "أول ﺷﻤﻌﺔ / The First Candle," a tale of legacy passed on to a young poet from her tailor Jido, premiered at the 2025 Toronto Multicultural Film Festival. You’ll also find Rayan as 1st AD on short narratives and promotions, and as a Field Producer on the highly anticipated political feature documentary UNCOMMITTED, which premiered at CAAMFest 2026. She is developing her next short film, an exploration of diasporic belonging and fierce insistence on the right to return, as an Official Selection of the Cinephilia Productions Film & TV Development Workroom. Rayan is an inaugural Arts + Policy Fellow with the Arab American National Museum x NNAAC and Screening Committee Member for the Arab Film Festival. She is honing in on her passion for and dedication to representative, change-making storytelling by pursuing an MFA in TV & Screenwriting from Stephens College.

School Name: Stephens College

Sponsor: Shahin-Fatemeh Scholarship