Hisonni Mustafa seems to be on one of those career trajectories that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. The UNLV School of Cinematic Arts student and Las Vegas filmmaker has been named one of the inaugural Grand Prize winners of Tyler Perry Studios’ Dream Collective, an initiative created to identify, mentor and support emerging filmmakers. Through the program, Mustafa wrote and directed the original narrative short film Gospel For Ghosts, produced with the support and resources of Tyler Perry Studios. This month, Mustafa traveled to Toronto in connection with the film, participating in the inaugural TIFF: The Market, the Toronto International Film Festival’s first official global content market. The opportunity placed Mustafa and his work in front of an international film community at an important moment in his career. And this latest recognition is far from an isolated win. In 2026, Mustafa received the Directors Guild of America Student Film Award for Outstanding Doc...