Edda Manriquez shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Edda, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I find myself consistently straddling the path of both walking and wandering. But in itself, the path leads to wandering and that is what makes life so exciting. Whether you believe in fate or want to be the sole captain to your course- there is something wonderous about the way it sets us up.
We go through phases in life. Some can be very rough, but they shape us and take us down a path we did not every anticipate we would wander to. Nothing is every linear and while can you try to stay on course- life just takes us a little off roading sometimes. And I love and cherish that. That is where magic happens and there is where you meet souls you never quite knew would wander into your life.
So to me, we are all trying to walk a path, but sometimes its nice to jump off on our own, or let life lead us down a wandering winding road.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Edda Manriquez and I am the founder and director of Femtasia Fest- formally Les Femmes Underground International Film Festival. Femtasia Fest is an official 501c3 and was the love child of my time at CalArts as a Film and Video MFA student.
The transformation and inspiration began when I decided I was going to create a historical portrait of all the women in Rock and Roll history. The class I was enrolled in had mostly shown film music history from a mostly masculine perspective and I wanted to know more about the women who also shaped the genre.
I found myself naturally attracted to stories which championed women and fem stories. I didn’t think much of it- but after I screened this in auditorium filled with mostly male students- women began to approach me and expressed the most genuine heartfelt gratitude for allowing them to be seen. After that, we began to have informal conversations ab0ut gender and media representation and when the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media came to CalArts one evening- I was awestruck. I don’t think I realized how much I needed this and how much we needed this specifically for women in experimental and independent media.
Then around 2014 when I first graduated from CalArts I began to miss the community which had been a support system for three wonderful years. I craved that artistic connection. I craved the conversations, and most importantly I craved a space where people like me could continue to showcase their work.
So in 2016 I was able to officially make Les Femmes Underground International Film Festival an official non-profit with the idea that we would travel all along places of the United States where underrepresented voices could be highlighted. By 2025 we had traveled all the Southwest including doing a satellite show in Berlin and in Boston.
In 2022 we decided to rebrand as Femtasia Fest as a way to really highlight the magic we had evolved into- which was a festival and nonprofit dedicated to supporting, women, femme, and non-binary fillmmakers in independent media. We have shown at several historic locations such as The Aero, the San Diego Media Center, Beyond Baroque, The Echo Park Film Center, Whammy, the Philosophical Research Society, the Brattle Theatre, and several others.
Our festival has evolved to include not only films, but also musical performances, art shows, youth shelter and book drives, and most recently a collaboration with celebrity fashion house Gutter Gutter Studio to premiered their new fashion line “Spiders and Lace”. Gutter Gutter Studio specializes in custom latex outfits for notable figures such as Megan the Stallion, Ariana Grande, and Cardi B.
Our demographic is young first time independent filmmakers and we feature shorts that have a neon splash of color similar to A24. Past Femtasia alumni include Prano Bailey-Bond (NASTY, CENSOR), Maggie Levin (V/H/S/99), Kirsten Lepore (Adventure Time, Marcel the Shell), Sandra Powers (Two-time Emmy Award-nominated artist and lead editor of Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur), Jessica Mendez Siqueiros (Disney’s The Last of the Chupacabras), and Penda Diakite (Author of I Lost My Tooth in Africa).
In 2022, Femtasia Fest screened the World DCP preservation premiere of “Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers” (1978) which featured trans icon and Warhol Superstar Holly Woodlawn- considered for many decades a long forgotten piece of cinema history and in 2024 we premiered The Film Foundation’s 4k Restoration of “Macario” (1961) at Vidiots and the preservation of “Lovers of the Lord of the Night” (1986) at the Philosophical Research Society.
This next year marks 10 years since we began touring and I am so excited to see what happens next.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My community saw me before I saw myself. I was shy, quiet, having grown up in a conservative low income single parent immigrant household; I always tried to make myself invisible.
Despite my best efforts, people recognized something in me- that I did not yet have the confidence enough to embrace. From my time as a undergraduate student at UC San Diego to CalArts to my current position as at a prestigious Archive which helps preserve the history of media and highlight; all those surrounding forces saw something in me and gave me an opportunity.
When I attended UCSD- the dean saw something in me I had not yet embraced. I was not seeking attention nor did I want acknowledgement. I just wanted to take in the world and see what it had to teach me. Eventually I became the first female tv station manager in UCSD Warren College Television. And that was meaningful. I became drawn to my female mentors and teachers and seeing how confident they were and all the things they had accomplished pushed me to become my best self and help give it forward and become a mentor myself.
This is to say, its always in us. This light and our soul purpose- but sometimes it takes others to bring it out and let it shine. So my advise to readers are, open your heart- let others in. Find those who inspire you and don’t be afraid to ask questions. You will be surprised how warm the world actually is.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
There are several hardships I have had to endure and I have tried to approach them with as much grace as my humanity allows me to do. Hardships stem from having lost a parent to Aids during the tail end peak of the Aids Epidemic and to having a single mother who due to unfortunate twists of fate got Trichinosis and Hydrocephalus when I was younger. This lead to brief instances in foster care with wounds creating fear of loss and fear of abandonment.
Growing up with a parent who had limited options in work despite having been a Doctor in Mexico- due to these conditions caused to have very humble beginnings. But I think this is what allowed me to have more compassion for people and know there is more than meets the eye. As I grew older the lack of transportation, the lack of income, the lack of external support as a small family, those were all hardships which made it difficult to fit in. I had to decline going out to dinner, my clothes were polyester hand me downs two sizes too small which made me feel constantly uncomfortable in my own skin.
But this is why it was important for me to break this cycle of how we as a society can be very cruel to those outsiders who do not fill the mold. For ten years I wore the face of silence, but I feel in efforts to be the most authentic in this- showing others these wounds are the only way I can heal. And its the only way I encourage you all to heal. The first step to healing is speaking up. That takes a lot of courage. But when you do- those tethers will become less heavy.
As I got into college, other hardships were formed and they stemmed from people I thought were friends, but in reality they thrived off controlling and belittling others. I couldn’t bare the oppressive energy and knowing I was betraying the very thing I held the highest regard- which is women’s independence I decided to break free from those chains.
That came at a price; others formulated their own thoughts on one sided stories from charismatic sources who at their core were cruel, manipulative, opportunistic, body shaming energies.
But those wounds are what made me want to create a space which was just the opposite. I wanted light and be surrounded by those who radiated the same. I wanted to pull those out from those dark spaces from other energies who had done the same to them. So in these wounds, I found my true self. I found who I wanted to be. And for that I am grateful more than you can ever imagine.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What truths are so foundational in your life that you rarely articulate them?
Truth is foundational in my life as well as fairness. I live my life trying to be as fair and impartial as possible. I find the world can cling to black and white ideals and totally ignore the grey. It is my belief we must always see the world through different shoes and not cling to a singular truth because that is a fabricated reality.
To me foundationally it is inclusion and acceptance. We must make room for others to grow and not try to dictate to them certain ideals. We can share our thoughts and give generalized advise but also accept the truths of others. My life’s work is to give a platform for those truths. A platform for their honesty, and to encourage everyone to lead with kindness and their heart.
That is what Femtasia Fest means to me. The raw energy of someone’s soul along with the love and beauty they see in the world through their art. That beauty can be an ugly truth. But its a truth that allows us all to grow.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. When do you feel most at peace?
I feel most at peace when I am around my community. The community of creative high vibrating energy who see the world with wonder. I want to be in wonder with them, knowing there is so much to explore, so much to see, and so much to create. A place where we can pitch ideas, think of the impossible, and create legacy for others to enjoy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://femtasiafest.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/femtasiafestival
- Twitter: https://x.com/LEFUFF_FIlm
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/femtasiafest
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbeLYVig4qb8AeyPf4pRVDA
- Other: https://filmfreeway.com/FemtasiaFest
Image Credits
Images courtesy of Femtasia Fest. All rights reserved.
