Bad Feminists Making Films

In this episode, we talk to bad feminist filmmaker Reaa Puri, an award-winning filmmaker, TEDx speaker, and co-founder of Breaktide Productions. Reaa talks about her journey of overcoming imposter syndrome and understanding her worth and value as a filmmaker. She shares how a twist of fate pushed her to overcome a mindset of scarcity and embrace one of abundance both individually and collectively through the work she does with the collective she co-founded, Breaktide. Reaa gets into the nitty gritty of filmmaking collectives such as deciding on projects, creating a sustainable model, and finding clients that align with collective visions. She ends with practical advice for women filmmakers to embrace their value and empower themselves through collectivity.

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What makes a documentary ethnographic? How is this rad programmer of color changing film festivals? We talk with filmmaker, programmer, and anthropologist Professor Patricia Alvarez Astacio about her ethnographic documentary ENTREJIDO and her refined and critical approach to observational cinema. Shaped by the Universidad de Puerto Rico and her doctoral studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Patricia offers a blueprint for festivals to step into their full potential as inclusive and creative sites for the communities they descend upon. As co-director of the Society of Visual Anthropology Film Festival, she watches all film submissions-- a radical practice in today’s networked industry! How will you show up? Listen for ideas…

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Activist, filmmaker, and 2018 NeXt Doc Fellow, Courtney Symone Staton speaks candidly about the imperative for decolonizing documentary by focusing on her statement at 2019 True/False Film Festival. After the screening of "The Commons" by Suki Hawley & Michael Galinsky, Courtney concretely identified the difference of how student-led protests (which she was part of) are represented in their work versus her collaboratively produced film, “Silence Sam.” While both recount protests that led to the removal of the Silent Sam confederate statue from University of North Carolina’s campus, Courtney reflects on methods that center the experiences and autonomy for community self-representation. Her reflections provoke us to re-assess who gets to be behind the camera and accesses documentary pipelines.

What does it mean to be a human rights activist and advocate and a filmmaker at the same time? Are they one identity or two separate endeavors? We talk to Romanian-born human rights activist and filmmaker Mona Nicoara about two of her films: Our School, a documentary following the de-segregation efforts meant to integrate Roma children in the Romanian school system; and The Distance Between Me and Me, a documentary centering Nina Cassian, a controversial Romanian poet whose complicated relationship with the totalitarian communist regime eventually led to her exile to the U.S. Mona’s exploration of the intersection of human rights and filmmaking, elucidates some of the ways in which the two might complement one another, how the practices relate, as well as the tensions that arise at their confluence.

In this two-guest episode, we talk to Ameesha Joshi and Anna Sarkissian, the Canadian directors of With This Ring, a documentary on women boxers in India. They take us through the ten-year journey of creating their first feature film, explicating the reality and often the necessity, of documenting stories over an extended period of time. Ameesha and Anna give a detailed account of the production and personal challenges of this long-term project, including the path to how they organically became co-directors, a relationship that would become crucial for finishing this film

Back in January, we chat with Rebecca Byerly, a filmmaker, journalist and ultra marathon runner whose film Women of the Mountains examines a story of intergenerational trauma. We speak with Rebecca about her process of “waking up” to her own story — and when and how she decided to turn the camera on her family and herself. We explore what it means to make healing a goal of filmmaking, so that the stories we tell are transformational not only to our intended audiences but also to those with whom we have the most complex relationships and ourselves.

Director and cinematographer Alexxiss Jackson shares her journey as a visual storyteller committed to social justice: from being an eight-year-old making home movies starring Transformers and Barbie dolls, to being one of few women of color in film school, to working double to get half the recognition on film sets. To our question "What is it like to be a woman of color in the film industry?" Alexxiss offers nuanced insights based on her personal experiences, touching on the racialized dynamics of the filmmaking industry and the absolute necessity of unrepresented voices to create spaces and opportunities of their own.

Filmmaker, organizer, and impact producer Set Hernandez Rongkilyo waxes lyrical about how to bring together the worlds of storytelling and organizing in the service of building movements. They share their journey of feeling like the only person without a social security number to being connected to an entire universe of undocumented superheroes fighting in the migrant justice movement. Set reflects on how film is a sharp weapon that can be wielded in toxic or healing ways, and the unique role of the impact producer to support directors and producers in shaping film into a powerful tool for organizing and movements.

Filmmaker, photographer, and professor Leena Jayaswal joins the show for a deep-dive into her current film project MIXED. She describes her filmmaking journey with fellow director Caty Borum Chattoo, as they--two mothers, one brown, one white--set off to explore the experiences of mixed race families fifty years after Loving v. Virginia legalized interracial marriage in the U.S. Leena reflects on the vulnerability of sharing her own family’s story on screen; why filmmaking sometimes feels like therapy; and what the work of inclusion looks like in the film and academic worlds.

Artist and filmmaker Hilary Hess describes her journey from doing social media at a public television station to directing a PBS digital series, becoming the videographer for Bernie Sanders and working with Melinda Gates. She created her own opportunities and intensely focused on what she was passionate about rather than the limitations she or others may have perceived about her. Maggie, Emily and Hilary discuss the difficult questions and “catch 22s” that women often face in terms of how they choose to show up and lead in historically white male dominated work cultures.