A BRIGHTER LENS

For this week’s episode, we talked with writer, director, and U.S. Army veteran, Satinder Kaur about her short film Blood and Glory. Blood and Glory premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and won the Grand Prize in Women in Media CAMERAderie initiative. Kaur is a fellow of the Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project. She recently started the Global Talent Development & Inclusion program through NBC/Universal, where she is currently writing two features as part of the program.

Blood and Glory Synopsis:

Two homeless, female veterans’ friendship is tested when they confront adversity, discrimination, and even mother nature itself in their attempt to find work and survive the day.

Keylee Koop-Sudduth is a Texas born and raised actor, writer, producer, and director now living in Los Angeles. In 2013, she co-founded the award-winning independent production company Bob Billiams Productions with her husband and creative partner Micah Sudduth. Keylee’s original projects have become Official Selections of Tribeca Film Festival (2018, 2020) and won awards like Best Series at LA Indie Fest and Sunset Comedy Series. Keylee’s latest project, BACKSLIDERS, is an Official Selection of Tribeca Film Festival 2020. She is currently co-writing a half-hour comedy pilot under the same title with Micah Sudduth and co-writing a feature film with Micah Sudduth and Matt Cook of Hazard Pay Productions.

Keylee Koop-Sudduth is a Texas born and raised actor, writer, producer, and director now living in Los Angeles. In 2013, she co-founded the award-winning independent production company Bob Billiams Productions with her husband and creative partner Micah Sudduth. Keylee’s original projects have become Official Selections of Tribeca Film Festival (2018, 2020) and won awards like Best Series at LA Indie Fest and Sunset Comedy Series. Keylee’s latest project, BACKSLIDERS, is an Official Selection of Tribeca Film Festival 2020. She is currently co-writing a half-hour comedy pilot under the same title with Micah Sudduth and co-writing a feature film with Micah Sudduth and Matt Cook of Hazard Pay Productions.

An emerging auteur recognized by the Museum of Modern Art as a “rarity among the young generation of Filipino filmmakers for her muted, serene aesthetic", Isabel Sandoval is a US-based filmmaker who has written and directed three features. Isabel's third feature LINGUA FRANCA (2019), co-starring Eamon Farren (Twin Peaks: The Return), premiered at the Venice IFF, where she become the first trans woman director to compete at the festival. LINGUA FRANCA follows an undocumented Filipina trans woman Olivia (Isabel Sandoval) after she has secured a job as a live-in caregiver for Olga (Lynn Cohen), an elderly Russian woman in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood. Olivia’s main priority is to secure a green card to stay in America. But when she unexpectedly becomes romantically involved with Olga’s adult grandson Alex (Eamon Farren), issues around identity, civil rights and immigration threatens her very existence. Distributed by ARRAY, the film is now available to stream on Netflix.

With 15 years in the entertainment business, Monica Sotto is just beginning her path as a full-time Production Designer. Monica is a first generation Filipina-American who grew up in Pasadena, CA. Earlier this year, Monica won an Art Directors Guild Award for her Production Design work on the hit Comedy Central TV series, “Drunk History.” Additionally, she and the Drunk History Art team recently nabbed a Primetime Emmy nomination in the 72nd annual awards. While we just found out she and the Drunk History team lost the Emmy to SNL, we’re still so excited for Monica and, as she says, ‘the honor of being nominated.’ In addition to Drunk History, Monica’s credits and clients include the shows RuPaul’s Drag Race (World of Wonder), American Horror Story, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Bones (FX/FoxTelevision), Miss 2059 (Go90) and Rizzoli & Isles (TNT).

Back at the beginning of quarantine, we chatted Jessie Barr. Jessie is a filmmaker and 2020 Sundance Fellow based in Los, Angeles. She is an actor, writer, director and producer with a background in independent film, digital storytelling and theater. She makes her feature film directorial debut with Sophie Jones, from executive producer Nicole Holofcener.

Sophie Jones will have its world premiere in competition at the 2020 Deauville American Film Festival in France today, Sept 10th. Jessie is one of the seven first-time directors screening in competition. Additionally, eight of the 15 films in competition are directed by women. Stay tuned for upcoming festival announcements that will include virtual offerings, and in the meantime, enjoy our conversation with Jessie!

Leah Meyerhoff is an award winning independent filmmaker who wrote and directed the narrative feature film I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS starring Natalia Dyer and Peter Vack, which was released theatrically after premiering at SXSW, winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Atlanta Film Festival and additional awards from Tribeca Film Institute, San Francisco Film Society, Woodstock Film Festival, and the Adrienne Shelly Foundation.

Leah is the founder of FILM FATALES, a non-profit organization which advocates for parity in the film industry and supports hundreds of women feature film and television directors around the world. Over the past five years, she has produced over one hundred panel discussions, educational workshops and networking events for marginalized filmmakers in collaboration with organizations such as Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, Hot Docs, and Toronto International Film Festival.

In an entertainment industry where women direct less than 5% of the top box office films and less than 20% of episodic television shows, Film Fatales provides a structure that enables women directors to get their films made and seen. By offering space for mentorship, peer networking and direct participation, Film Fatales is expanding the landscape of storytelling to bring exciting new films to the screen.

For today’s episode we interviewed film publicist, Tahajah Samuels. Tahajah (pronounced: ta•hay•ja) serves as Senior Digital Publicist at BRIGADE where she manages digital publicity campaigns for films' theatrical, streaming, PVOD and/or home entertainment releases. Clients of hers include Focus Features (The High Note, Johnny English Strikes Again) Lionsgate (John Wick: Chapter 3, Uncle Drew), Netflix (6 Underground, Da 5 Bloods, Dolemite Is My Name, The Irishman, Project Power), United Artists Releasing (Creed II, No Time To Die), and Universal Pictures (Breaking In, First Man) to name a few. 

Additionally, in 2017, Tahajah founded community and digital platform Black PR Girl Magic™ which hosts seasonal mixers and an array of programs for Black women in the PR and Comms space as well as partnered events with organizations that cater to a wide range of millennials, professionals of color and women.

We're happy to have friend of the pod, Beandrea July, return for a discussion about the film landscape during pandemic times. Beandrea is a freelance writer and audio producer focused on culture. Her film criticism has been published in several outlets including The New York Times, Time, The Hollywood Reporter and broadcast on NPR. She is a regular contributor to TheCherryPicks.com a website that prioritizes women’s voices in film criticism. She has also been a guest on the NPR shows 1A and The Takeaway as well as KPCC SoCal’s The Frame. She is based in Los Angeles, although definitely not from there. She grew up in Dayton, Ohio. Her cinematic comfort food is the eighth feature Sidney Poitier directed. It’s a solid B movie about a group of kids from Ohio who move to NYC to make it big as dancers. Google it. @beandreadotcom

Tanya Saracho is a playwright and television writer who serves as creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the critically-acclaimed series Vida on Starz, which earned 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its first, second and third seasons. The show, which recently aired its third and final season, featured all Latina directors in seasons two and three, including Saracho, who made her television directorial debut last year. The series had an all-Latinx writers room for seasons one and two, and in season three, the room was composed of all Latina writers. We chatted with her about making the jump from writing and showrunning to directing, and the importance of Latinx representation on television. Enjoy!