Interviews with Female and GNC Filmmakers
In our interviews, we’re able to share the success stories and celebrate the work of established female and GNC filmmakers. These filmmakers are sharing their knowledge with the TLL community to expand educational equity in Hollywood and also provide insight into the steps they’ve taken in their lives.
Project Spotlight: 'La Identidad', Rejecting Society's Beauty Standards for Latinas
Vanesa Moreno is a 17 year old Latinx director. This is her first short film, a personal piece dissecting her identity.
A Career Without Fear: An Interview with Tilane Jones of ARRAY NOW
Tilane Jones holds many titles, each one more impressive as the list goes on. Director’s Assistant of the 2014’s blockbuster, Selma. Producer of Academy Award nominated documentary 13th. Executive director of ARRAY Now… and many say Ava Duvernay’s right hand. We spoke to Jones about ARRAY Now, how she feels about diverse media, and forging your own path.
Project Spotlight: 'Refuge of Hope', The Series Documenting the 2016 Election
Director, Yasmin Mistry contributes to America Heard, a documentary series covering the affects of the 2016 Presidential Election.
Kat Lazo: the Latina Calling Us Out (In the Best Ways)
Kat Lazo is Latina director, writer, and actress from Queens, NY with more than 1 million views on her YouTube channel, a residency as a YouTube partner, and bragging rights as the first East Coast video producer for “We Are Mitu” a digital only media company for Latinos. Her webseries with “We Are Mitu”, The Kat Call has garnered more than 4 million views in its first season. By harnessing the power of her identity and creating video content for a group television often ignores, Lazo has found a way to undermine the lack of diversity otherwise around her.
Screen Queens: the Blog Rewriting the Male Gaze
Screen Queens is the brainchild of 21 year old, Chloe Leeson. It’s a site meant to hold a space for feminist film criticism, women centric works, and reviews by women and LGBTQ youth. Hailing from the north of England she is a recent grad who studied Costume Interpretation with Design in between founding and acting as Screen Queens’ Editor in Chief. What we love most about Screen Queens is that much like our own site, it’s geared towards all level filmmaker with an emphasis on the youth voice.
‘Or Die Trying’: the Millennial Webseries Changing the Industry
Or Die Trying is truly the answer to our binge watch dreams. We don’t know about you, but a series about women in film, by women in film, with WOC is our wildest dream. ODT answers that dream so much so that it’s been featured as IndieWire’s Project of the week and has been one of our first choices for an interview since before the The Light Leaks was born. We spoke to the creators of what’ll be the hottest series of the summer.
Defining “Filmmaker” With Breezy Granzow
Breezy Granzow is a 24 year old filmmaker from Austin, Texas currently living in Brooklyn. She’s a video editor for Refinery29 and cofounder of production and arts company TEMPER. With her identity as queer female and millennial, she aims to focus her work in feminist, political/current events issues and advocating for representation.
Project Spotlight: 'New York', A Love Letter to NYC
Filmmaker, Allison Bar documents her first trip to NYC and the feelings she experienced.
Directing the Screen with Rosemary Rodriguez
Rosemary Rodriguez is a Film and Television Director originally from New Hampshire. Her first feature film Acts of Worship premiered at the Sundance film festival and was nominated for two Independant Spirit Awards. You’ve probably seen her television directing during your last binge watch session. With Jessica Jones, Empire, The Good Wife, Rescue Me, and so much more under her belt- she is absolutely #WorkWeAdmire. Rosemary also serves as the 4th VP of the Director’s Guild of America.
Fighting Self Doubt with Breonna Rodriguez
Breonna Rodriguez is a writer, designer, and filmmaker currently living on the Upper East Side. Her dynamic skills, outgoing personality, and determination have landed her in incredible places. Originally from NJ, Breonna is the lead digital designer for Sesame Street, Founder of Zenfulie, and Staff Writer at HERMag.com.
Providing Spaces for Marginalized Groups with Louise Hutt
Louise Hutt is a 24 year old bisexual woman from New Zealand starting a deep conversation on disparity in the NZ film industry via her Master’s thesis. She is a multi talented photographer, graphic designer, and filmmaker who created “Online Heroines”, a webseries that encompasses her research, as a way to educate others on the struggle of marginalized voices in film and to inspire resistance to the status quo.
Project Spotlight: 'Taffy', Navigating Sex As An Awkward Teen
“Taffy” is short film about a teen girl having sex for the first time. Directed by Amanda Dimartino, it dissects the awkward parts of intimacy and adolescence.
Project Spotlight: 'Supernova', A Poem in Motion
Topaz Winters is a queer writer based in Singapore. Her recent poem was transformed into a beautiful short film on human emotion, here’s a look behind her process.
Honesty in the Age of Instagram with Lauren Tepfer
Lauren Tepfer is a 17 year old whose eye for photography has her at 16.4k followers and counting (which is, funny enough, actually double the population of her town). Her photography work, which focuses on themes of suburbia, nostalgia, and beautiful lighting, calls to mind feelings of isolation and simultaneous hope. With her work shown in exhibits across the country, the high school senior is now gearing up for graduation and her future.