Today we’d like to introduce you to Lis Bartlett.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
When I was 13, I saw Julie Taymor’s “The Lion King” on Broadway. I was moved and recognized the power of storytelling to change hearts and minds and decided then there could be no more fun way to spend my life than as a director. In retrospect, I think knowing that it was directed by a woman made me feel like I had the option to be a director.
I started as a theatre major in college, but eventually switched to Media Studies at USF. I had some great teachers, among them documentarian Sam Green. I felt empowered by the self-sufficient aspect of documentary filmmaking. I felt like all I needed was to set up a camera and have an honest conversation with someone in order to capture something meaningful. I realized then that everyone has a story. After college, I moved back home to Reno, NV and bought a camera with my savings. Just as I moved back, “Reno Collective” started. It was the first co-working space in town. I joined and gained a community of empowered freelancers, which helped birth a fruitful few years creating industrial videos for companies. I would shoot, direct, and edit them myself. Every person has a story, and every company has a story too. I even made a safety video for a power plant. It was interesting because people on the plant were passionate about safety. It’s literally life or death! After two years of industrial video work, I was ready to move to LA.
I started here as an Assistant Editor – I wanted to learn the industry from the ground up. Knowing the editing software enabled me to get work and got me into the room with all sorts of interesting creators and projects. After five years, I had the confidence to direct my own documentary project. A lifelong swimmer, I had joined West Hollywood Aquatics when I moved to LA. At the time, I hardly knew anyone and the team became a family for me. When I learned about the team’s history, how much they’d been through, and that it was still thriving after 35 years, I couldn’t believe their story hadn’t already been told. Three years later, “Light in the Water” premiered on Logo TV, and we were eventually nominated for a daytime Emmy.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wouldn’t say it’s been easy. When I moved to LA, I felt like I had so much creative energy to give, but wasn’t sure how to use it. I felt l needed someone to take a chance on me, or show me the way. It took awhile for me to realize you just have to get started, build your own community of collaborators, and learn by making mistakes. It’s scary and it takes time, so it’s not the sexy idea you have of success when you’re younger. I thought if I worked hard in college and was a good person, success would come naturally. Now I laugh at how naive I was. It’s a constant battle of putting yourself out there, pitching yourself, being vulnerable about sharing your work, staying centered, having difficult conversations with collaborators, failing, and learning.
When I took on this project I had a full-time job as an editor, and my producing partner also had a full-time job. We worked tirelessly, filming dozens of interviews, searching archives for articles and info that filled out the story, raising money, and getting it to final cut. It was always a low budget project, which meant everything that we didn’t have money to pay someone to do fell on us. I’d never worked so hard for so long before. In fact, I don’t think I would have taken the project on had I known it would be a four year journey… but I’m so glad I did! Eventually we received accolades for the final product. I suppose naïveté is how things get started sometimes. Now I understand the term “labor of love” means if you don’t love it, it won’t get done.
I was lucky to collaborate two other West Hollywood Aquatics teammates (Nathan Santell as my Producing partner and Jim Cude as Editor), so the movie was very personal for all of us. When Logo TV came on board and Producer Patty Ivins-Specht, they were key for the treacherous, heartbreaking task of “killing our darlings” to make the film appeal to a wider audience than just the team.
Please tell us about Light in the Water.
“Light in the Water” is a documentary film that chronicles the birth and evolution of West Hollywood Aquatics, the first openly gay swim team and water polo club. Always going back to the theme of the water, the film shows how both joy and sorrow shaped the team in ways neither could do alone. We premiered on Logo TV in July of 2018 and have been featured in over 20 festivals around the world, including Palm Springs earlier this year, where we were voted among the “Best of Fest” by audiences.
History is easily forgotten and I am proud that the film shines a light on these brave men and women who found power in community and sport and used it to battle adversity, survive and bring about positive change. I wanted them to feel seen and heard and celebrated and I think we achieved that.
As an artist, I am most interested in the space where the power of storytelling to change hearts and minds intersects with social justice and the need and drive for change. I was lucky to work with collaborators on this project who had the same passion for social justice storytelling.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Looking back I cherish the time I spent outside as a kid growing up in Reno, making mud pies in the yard, catching frogs and tadpoles in the streams near my house, riding bikes with my neighbors, feeding apples to Ma, the horse next door, playing “Horse” basketball with my brothers in the driveway, (the sound of a basketball bouncing outside always takes me back) raking leaves and jumping in them, and generally being wild outside until the sun went down. In my teen years I lost my brother, and shortly thereafter my father, both suddenly. I always had swimming to get me through the loss. This film is my love letter to swimming.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lightinthewater.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: lightinthewaterfilm
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lightinthewater
- Twitter: WH2Odoc
Image Credit:
Kacy Meinecke, Colston Young, Lucas Murnaghan
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