I’m Dash Donato, an award-winning filmmaker, Enneagram teacher, and writing coach based in Austin, Texas, which means I spend most of my time toggling between existential reflection and choosing my favorite breakfast taco.

My films have screened at hundreds of festivals worldwide (Cannes, SXSW, Tribeca, Outfest, deadCenter, etc) and I’ve built a career out of telling stories that live in the tender space between pain and possibility. My feature debut Gossamer Folds was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award and earned me Best New Director at the Brooklyn Film Festival. I’ve directed everything from indie music videos to the Telly-winning docuseries Behind the Drag and co-wrote the queer rom-com Signature Move (which premiered at SXSW). My short film Spunkle won the Emerging LGBTQ+ Filmmaker Award at Cannes and went on to become a 30-minute comedy developed with Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap and sold in the room to Warner Bros.

These days, I’m deep in post-production on my first documentary feature, The Great Now What, a hybrid film about a woman rebuilding her identity after a near-fatal stroke. It’s part portrait, part performance, part question: Who are we when everything we thought we were is stripped away? (Spoiler: It’s not what you think.)

When the 2023 writers’ strike hit—right after the pandemic had already torched my creative momentum—I did what any good Enneagram 4 in crisis does: I turned it into an identity shift. I’d always used the Enneagram to write characters, but I decided to study it for real this time, to get professionally certified as a teacher. I figured it’d be a side hustle while Hollywood sorted itself out. What I didn’t expect was that it would change my actual life.

I’ve been in therapy since I was 18, managing major depressive disorder like a full-time job. The Enneagram didn’t replace therapy; it deepened it. It gave me a map of the terrain I’d been trudging through for years. It taught me to spot when I was caught in a story versus when my brain chemistry was just doing its thing. It gave me superpowers: observation, self-compassion, and embodied discernment. The “I’m too broken to change” narrative I’d been running quietly in the background? Rewritten. The people-pleasing habit? Rewired. My loathing of the term radical acceptance? Now a daily (if reluctant) mantra.

Now my passion is teaching others how to do the same, using story as medicine. My magic-wand vision is to blend film, psychology, and community healing into spaces where personal growth feels less like homework and more like creative play. I want to make emotional education as accessible and alive as storytelling itself. Because the stories we tell about ourselves shape everything: our choices, our relationships, our capacity to heal.

When I’m not trying to solve the mystery of why we do what we do, you can find me on a hiking trail, at a live show, or hovering nervously over my two Siamese cats, Ted and Cat Blanchett. I’m married to a badass cancer survivor, and every day we try to remember that surviving isn’t the same as living, which is why I keep making art that asks what it means to come home to yourself.

Out with Fiona, DocuSeries | DIRECTOR (IN PRE PRODUCTION)
The Great Now What, Feature Doc | DIRECTOR, PRODUCER (IN POST)
Honey & Milk, Short | DIRECTOR, PRODUCER (2023)
Gossamer Folds, Feature | DIRECTOR (2020)
Behind The Drag, Docu-Series | DIRECTOR (2019)
Zero One, Short | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER (2018)
There You Are, Short | DIRECTOR, PRODUCER (2018)
Foxy Trot, Short | DIRECTOR, WRITER, PRODUCER (2018)
Signature Move, Feature | CO-WRITER (2017)
The News Today, Short | DIRECTOR, CO-WRITER, PRODUCER (2017)
Spunkle, Short | DIRECTOR, CO-WRITER, CO-PRODUCER (2016)
Reclaiming Pakistan, Short | DIRECTOR, CO-PRODUCER (2015)
Sugarhiccup, Short | DIRECTOR, WRITER, Producer (2015)

Honey & Milk (short drama)
Best Pride Short | deadCenter Film Festival
Lavender Award | Sedona International Film Festival
Best Texas Short | Dallas International Film Festival
Best LGBTQ Short Film | Montreal Independent Film Festival
Best North American Short Film | Female Eye Film Festival
Grand Jury 2nd Place | ATX Hyperreal Film Club
Best Drama Short | San Antonio Q Fest

Gossamer Folds (feature drama)
Oustanding Picture (Limited Release) | GLAAD Media Awards Nomination
Best New Director | Brooklyn Film Festival
Grand Jury Best Feature Film | Big Fork Film Festival - MT
Grand Jury Best Feature Film | Q Fest - Long Beach, CA
Grand Jury Best Director | Q Fest - Long Beach, CA
Grand Jury Best Picture | Out South Film Festival - Durham, NC
Director’s Choice Award | Cinema Diverse - Palm Springs, CA
Audience Award Best Feature Film | St. Louis International Film Festival
Audience Award Best Feature Film | OutShine Film Festival - FL
Audience Award Best Feature Film | Inside Out Film Festival - Toronto
Audience Award Best Feature Film | Twin Cities Film Festival
Audience Award Best Feature Film | Image Out - Rochester, NY
Audience Award Best Feature Film | Q Fest - Long Beach, CA
Audience Award Best Feature Film | Queer Screen - Sydney, Australia
Festival Favorite | Cinema Diverse - Palm Springs, CA
Iris Prize Selection - Cardiff, Wales

Behind The Drag (short docuseries)
Best Social Impact, Branded Content | Telly Awards

Breakthrough Artist Award
presented by aGLIFF @ SXSW, 2019

There You Are (short drama)
LunaFest Official Selection; one of nine films chosen to travel around the country for 300+ unique screenings.
Audience Award Best Short | SpringOut! - Middle Tennessee
Godard Award, Best Social Commentary | Austin Arthouse Film Fest
Iris Prize Official Selection - Cardiff, Wales
Best of Fest Encore Screening | Outfest - Los Angeles, CA
Best Short Film | Trans Stellar Fest - Detroit, MI

Foxy Trot (short comedy)
Best LGBTQ Short Film | Austin Revolution Film Festival
Best Romantic Comedy | Austin Comedy Fest
Best Cinematography | Female Eye Film Fest - Toronto
Best Women's Short Film | Out South Film Festival - Durham, NC
Best Comedy Short | Fargo-Moorhead Film Festival - MN

Signature Move
Grand Jury Best Narrative Feature | Outfest I- Los Angeles, CA
Audience Award Best Feature| Houston Asian Am. Pacific Islander
Audience Award Best Feature | Image + Nation - Montreal
Best Comedy | Q Cinema - Quezon City, Philippines
Best Screenplay | OUT On Film - Atlanta, GA
Best Female Performance | Iris Prize - Cardiff, Wales
Jury Prize Acting, Writing, Producing | Mosaic Int’l Film Festival
Grand Jury Prize Best US Narrative Feature | Outfest 2017
Audience Award Best Feature | Out South Film Festival - Durham, NC
Jury Award Best Feature | Out South Film Festival - Durham, NC
Best American Spectrum Film | Indianapolis International Film Festival
Hoosier Lens | Indianapolis International Film Festival
Best Feature Film | Columbus International Film + Video Festival
Audience Award Best Feature | Connecticut LGBT Film Festival
Best Direction | Film Out - San Diego, CA
Audience Award Best Actress | Film Out - San Diego, CA
Finishing Fund Recipient | Frameline Film Festival - San Francisco, CA
Tribeca Film Institute/Los Cabos Intl FF/LaboDigtal $52,000 Grant

Spunkle (short comedy)
Emerging LGBTQ+ Filmmaker Award | Cannes(American Showcase)
Audience Award Best Short | Pride Film Fest
Seed & Spark Award Best Short | Flyway Film Festival - Minneapolis, MN
Best Short Film | Santa Fe International Film Festival
Best Short Film | Flicks by Chicks - Dallas, TX

The News Today (short drama)
Iris Prize Official Selection- Cardiff, Wales

Reclaiming Pakistan (short doc)
Ron Kovic Peace Prize | My Hero Film Festival - Santa Monica, CA
Dan Eldon Activist Award | My Hero Film Festival - Santa Monica, CA
Grand Jury Prize, Social Impact Media Award | SIMA Global Awards