This is me, nienko ニェンコ
Film director, cartoonist and visual journalist based in Boston.
I craft authorship-led visual narratives, from comics to AI-assisted cinema, rooted in original drawing, curation and cinematic storytelling.
My films have screened internationally and won awards. My background spans many years in broadcast journalism, an MA in Moving Image, archival work at Filmmuseum Amsterdam, and an MFA in Visual Narrative at Boston University, 2027.
I am also a mom of two really cool teens who teach me new stuff every day. Oh, and they are both trans!
Currently working on DISPATCHES FROM THE BLACK HOLE, a work of comics journalism about trans teens in Russia, and developing TOGA VIRILIS, a near-future sci-fi queer romance feature.
I’m fascinated by technologies that give people more agency: tools for self-directed learning, expression, communication and world-building. I’m particularly interested in what happens when those tools are used outside traditional gatekeeping structures.