Conversations with Film Girlz Brunch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Film Girlz Brunch.

Hi Film Girlz, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Film Girlz Brunch started as a monthly meetup for women and nonbinary filmmakers in Los Angeles. The idea came from a chance meeting of two filmmakers at Holly Shorts in 2022, Imani Davis and Kaiulani Bush. They were chatting about how there were no in-person meet-ups happening and that the networking events felt stiff and formal. They wanted something more casual and personable. A month later the first Film Girlz Brunch meet-up was held in Beverly Hills and between 20-30 women came. That first event was when they met Mailyne Briggs. She was new to the city and eager to help build community, so Imani and Kaiulani invited her to join as a co-founder. Three years later, the brunches have expanded to workshops, panels, collaborations, wellness events and even an annual short film festival in partnership with the American Cinematheque that celebrates the films made by members of Film Girlz Brunch. Our group chat(s) encompass 300-400 women filmmakers of various experiences, all actively working to make their projects happen. In 2024 a Chicago chapter was formed thanks to Imani – she’s originally from there and had friends in Chicago willing to run Film Girlz Brunch there too.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As with any event planning, it’s nerve wracking wondering if anyone is going to show up. We’re always pleasantly surprised when people do. Most of our struggles are with time and funding – we are all working in the industry and navigating our own schedules – Mailyne is a mother as well, which comes with its own set of challenges. We are completely volunteer run, and everything is grassroots style. We don’t charge membership fees and try to keep our events low cost so that people can put more of their money towards life or their films. The money that we do receive from events go directly back into paying for facilitators, venues or refreshments. The three of us don’t get paid to do this labor but we do it because people keep showing up, sharing what they need or want from a community and we just try to make it happen.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We’ve hosted brunches at multiple restaurants across LA and organized events in collaboration with businesses and organizations like BeCine, 33 Taps, Meadow, Not Your Daddy’s Films, Get Reelisms, Cinema Sala, A Bunch of Savages and more. We try to keep events accessible and offer them free or PWYC.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to Film Girlz Brunch is the connection and collaboration. If we can create a welcoming environment for women and non-binary folks to connect, share resources, make friends and work on a film together, then we believe that we’ve succeeded at what we’ve set out to do. The film industry is full of ego and gatekeepers and all we want to do is try our best to be part of making the industry a better place. The greatest compliment is hearing people say they’ve made something with people they met in our group, and then getting to share their work with others is so fulfilling. Our next goal is to be able to start a small film fund for our community and support even more projects.

Pricing:

• Free or PWYC

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tinyurl.com/filmgirlzbrunch
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/filmgirlzbrunch
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@FilmGirlzBrunch