Joshua Ashish Dawson is an architect-trained film director whose research-driven practice examines how climate change, water governance, and infrastructure systems reshape cities and everyday life. His work, described in a New York Times profile as “both slightly absurd and eminently believable,” uses cinematic worldbuilding as a critical method to construct speculative futures– revealing how political, ecological, and social forces embedded within the built environment disproportionately impact marginalized communities.
Joshua is a Year 12 member of the NEW INC Creative Science cohort at the New Museum, a Screenwriting Fellow at the Berggruen Institute’s Vaster Than Empires III, an alum of the Future of Film Incubator (London), and a 2026 UNESCO AI Ethics artist-in-residence at Somerset House Studios.
His projects have premiered internationally across film, design, and digital arts contexts, receiving the Jury Prize for Best Science Fiction Film at Cinequest and a Core77 Design Award. His work has been featured across international design, film, and culture publications, including VICE, Canal 180, Next Nature, The Weather Channel, and Domus.
He holds a Master’s degree in Advanced Architectural Studies from the University of Southern California.
Official Film Festival Selections:
2016: AnthropoScene Film Festival, Sydney
2018 & 2023: Architecture Film Festival, Rotterdam
2019: Cinequest, San Jose, California
2019: Arquiteturas Film Festival Lisbon, Portugal
2019: Move Cine Arte, Sao Paolo, Brazil
2019: ArchCine Film Festival Rio de Janeiro
2019: Cinetekton Film Festival, Mexico
2020 & 2021: Fiber Festival, Amsterdam
2021: Chattanooga Film Festival, Tennessee
2021: Supernova, Denver Digital Art Festival, Colorado
2021: Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival, Brooklyn
2021: Plokta Film Festival, Netherlands
2022: FedaxValdivia Film Festival, Chile
2023: Sydney Science fiction film festival, Sydney
2023: FREIBURG FILMFORUM Festival of
Transcultural Cinema, Freiburg Germany
2023: Sci-Fi-London, London
2023: Climate Future Film Festival, Rhode Island
2023: Athens digital arts festival, Greece
2023: BNP Paribas Green Film Festival
2023: Sydney Science Fiction film festival
2023: Hudson Valley Film Festival
2023: Silbersalz Science & Media Festival, Halle, Germany
2024: VENICE ARCHITECTURE FILM FESTIVAL
2018 & 2023: Architecture Film Festival, Rotterdam
2019: Cinequest, San Jose, California
2019: Arquiteturas Film Festival Lisbon, Portugal
2019: Move Cine Arte, Sao Paolo, Brazil
2019: ArchCine Film Festival Rio de Janeiro
2019: Cinetekton Film Festival, Mexico
2020 & 2021: Fiber Festival, Amsterdam
2021: Chattanooga Film Festival, Tennessee
2021: Supernova, Denver Digital Art Festival, Colorado
2021: Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival, Brooklyn
2021: Plokta Film Festival, Netherlands
2022: FedaxValdivia Film Festival, Chile
2023: Sydney Science fiction film festival, Sydney
2023: FREIBURG FILMFORUM Festival of
Transcultural Cinema, Freiburg Germany
2023: Sci-Fi-London, London
2023: Climate Future Film Festival, Rhode Island
2023: Athens digital arts festival, Greece
2023: BNP Paribas Green Film Festival
2023: Sydney Science Fiction film festival
2023: Hudson Valley Film Festival
2023: Silbersalz Science & Media Festival, Halle, Germany
2024: VENICE ARCHITECTURE FILM FESTIVAL
awards:
2014: Kenneth johnson memorial scholarship (USC)
2016: Gesundheit travelling fellowship (usc)
2018: IGEN 50 architects and designers of 2018 changing our lifestyles and city skylines
2019: Jury Prize for best Science Fiction film at the Academy Award-qualifying
Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California
2023: Core77 Design Awards - Professional Notable honor
2016: Gesundheit travelling fellowship (usc)
2018: IGEN 50 architects and designers of 2018 changing our lifestyles and city skylines
2019: Jury Prize for best Science Fiction film at the Academy Award-qualifying
Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California
2023: Core77 Design Awards - Professional Notable honor
lectures/talks:
2018: USC ARCHITECTURE GENERATION NEXT
2019: ARUP-SPECULATIVE FUTURES LA
2020: WORLD FUTURES SOCIETY - WORLD BUILDING
2020: FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY - COLLECTIVE
& CRITICAL DESIGN THINKING
2021: DIGITAL FUTURES - ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
2022: COMMUNICATION UNIVERSITY OF CHINA
2023: University of Michigan - MEDIATED URBANISMS
2023: West Edge Design Fair - How AI Will Revolutionize the D&A Industrial Complex?
2025: CEPT University - Parallax Conjecture
2025: LA Design Festival - World building and the architecture of what-if
2025: LA Design Festival - World building and the architecture of what-if