About Kamee Abrahamian
Kamee arrives in the world today as an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, writer, producer, performer, educator, creative strategist, community organizer, caregiver, queerdo, waitress, and witch. They were born to an Armenian family displaced from the SWANA region and grew up in an immigrant suburb of Toronto. Their work summons ancestral reclamation, diasporic futurism, and collective justice, and their creative practice is rooted in collaborative ethics and oriented towards generative, visionary world-building.
Kamee holds a BFA/BA in film and political science (Concordia University), an MA in expressive art therapy (European Graduate Institute), and an MA/PhD in Community, Liberation, Indigenous and Eco Psychologies (Pacifica Graduate Institute). Their doctoral research explored legacies of relational ontologies and ethics of care by diasporic-SWANA women and queers. Outside their creative projects, Kamee works as the arts programmer for a global feminist movement-support organization (AWID).
Kamee has created, produced, toured, and presented a vast body of work including narrative & documentary film, visual & media art, staged & immersive performances, exhibitions, magazines, anthologies, workshops, festivals, advocacy campaigns, and podcasts. Their projects have been supported by local and national funding bodies across Canada, USA and Armenia. They’re a Pushcart nominated writer, a Lambda-awarded playwright, and an alumni resident at VONA, Banff Center for Arts, and DocX (Duke University). The documentaries they’ve worked on with Oolik Productions have been supported by Sundance, Visions du Réel, HotDocs, and Catapult. Their short film Transmission (2019) – the first known Armenian science fiction film – premiered at BFI FLARE, and their documentary Symptom (2024) premiered at the SF Doc Fest and continues to circulate at festivals.
Kamee recently received the 2025 Creative Capital Award, published a children’s book (The Brighter I Shine) and organized a multi-day arts program for a gathering of 4000 global-south feminist activists in Bangkok (AWID Forum 2024). For the screen, they are currently developing a short film anthology (Portals), a limited series (Ensouled) and a feature film (We Are Our Mountains). They are also collaborating on a documentary project with Emily Mkrtichian about women who take up arms (Fedayee); touring a mixed-media monument project for Western Armenians (Flesh, Immemorial); and writing a graphic novel based on their experiences of new motherhood in a queer, disabled body.
I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I PROFIT OFF STOLEN HURON-WENDAT, HAUDENOSAUNEE, AND ANISHINABEWAKI ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ TERRITORY, LIVING ADJACENT TO THE KANIEN’KEHA:KA COMMUNITY OF TYENDINAGA. I AM A VISITOR HERE.
TRAINING & RESIDENCIES
DocX Residency | Center for Documentary Studies (Duke University, 2024)
Drake Devonshire x County Arts Residency (2024)
County Labs Residency (2023) for development of Ensouled
VONA Genre Bending Literary Fitness Writing Workshop (2021) with Shay Youngblood
Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity (2021) Spring Writers Retreat
Spruceton Artist Residency (2019) for development of Ensouled
Creative Facilitation Training (2014): Partners for Youth Empowerment – PYE Global
GRANTS
Creative Capital Fellowship (2025) for “Portals” short film anthology
PEC Arts Council Community Art Grant (2025) for “Zines for PEC”
PEC Arts Council Market Development Grant (2024) for “Symptom” at The Arab Film Festival
Calouste Gulbenkian InView Grant (2023) for “Flesh Immemorial”
Ontario Arts Council Media Arts Grant (2023) for “Symptom” short film
Studio IX Mother Project grant (2023)
HotDocs Development Grant Recipient (2022) for the development of feature film “Flying Cows”
Catapult Development Grant Recipient (2022) for the development of feature film “Flying Cows”
Sundance Documentary Fund Recipient (2021) for the development of feature film “Flying Cows”
Canada Arts Council Media Grant (2022) for the film production of “Sona and Amasia”
Canada Arts Council Digital Originals (2020) for “Ensouled” virtual iteration
Canada Arts Council Project Grant (2020) for “Ensouled”
Canada Arts Council Touring Grant (2019) for “Transmission” Community Screening Tour
Ontario Arts Council Multi & Inter Arts Project Grant (2019) for “Ensouled”
PEC Arts Council Market Development Grant (2019) for “Transmission” at Vancouver Queer Film Festival
Canada Arts Council Visual Art Travel Grant (2019) for “Herstories of Divine Love” Installation in Armenia
Creative Armenia Spark Grant (2019) for the “Ensouled” Illuminated Chapbook
POM Grant from Pomegranate Film Festival (2018) for Transmission Short Film
AGBU Performing Arts Grant (2018) for Transmission Short Film
Armenian Art Foundation Project Grant (2018) for “Herstories of Divine Love” Solo Art Show
RACC Project Grant (2018) for Transmission Short Film
Society for Community Research & Action Mini Community Grant (2018) for DYADS
Canada Arts Council Film & Video Research/Creation Grant (2016) World of Q Film Series
BC Arts Council Theatre Project Grant (2016) for Setting Bones
BC Arts Council Touring Initiatives Grant (2016) for Dear Armen East Coast Tour
BC Arts Council Theatre Project Grant (2015) for Dear Armen Pacific Coast Tour
Canada Council Theatre Travel Grant (2015) to attend ReOrient Festival in San Francisco
Canada Council Visual Arts Project Grant (2015) for Dear Armen Performance-Installation
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
Creative Capital Award (2024) for “Portals” Film Anthology and Installation
GRRL HAUS Cinema Juror Film Award (2024) for “Symptom” Short Film
IBC (Inclusive Books for Children) Shortlist (2024) for “The Brighter I Shine” Children’s Book
Honourable Mention for Best Experimental Film at Pomegranate Film Festival (2024) for “Ensouled” Short Film
Pushcart Prize Nomination for “Queer Motherhood is Speculative Fiction” Mizna Magazine 21.1
Best Actress Nominee (2020) Festival of the Moving Image for “Susanna” short film
Lammy Finalist for LGBTQ Anthology (2019) for “Dear Armen” in Q2Q: Queer Canadian Performance Texts
New Play Prize (2017) for “Setting Bones” Playwrights Theatre & Vancouver Fringe Festival