Today we’d like to introduce you to Sallie Keena.
Hi Sallie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve always been a creative. In kindergarten, I was called out for drawing tulips on a girl’s dress on a coloring page instead of just coloring it in, and my parents encouraged me to keep doing that. I’ve always run to art as an outlet, as a safe place – as a child I suffered a head injury and I swear I healed by drawing and painting my feelings. I’ve always been interested in photography, creating and dressing characters with costumes I’d made, painting and planning scenes, and that shifted from my childhood playtime activity to a college study when mid-semester, I realized I needed to change majors and dive into film, where I found my true calling and a way to enjoy so much of what I love doing in one media.
Film, and specifically directing, feels like a medium that both utilizes all the skills I have to offer and enjoy accessing and challenges me on all levels in the best way. I love acting, and inhabiting my stories in front of the camera, as well as behind it creatively feels so natural to me, as an extension of creating the full story, beginning to end.
After college, I moved cross-country a few times and spent 10 years working on hundreds of film sets in support positions that felt comfortable – makeup, wardrobe – and I’m grateful for that time on the sidelines, observing a multitude of directors’ successes and missed opportunities, and the minutiae of folks in power communicating their vision, for better or worse.
In 2018, I finally stepped back into directing, and enlisted my terrific film community in DC to crew my first short in years, Moon Eyes, which I wrote and directed and play the lead in. The way Moon Eyes (release in 2020) has so hugely resonated with folks of all ages, and the way it was embraced by one festival in particular, Rhode Island Film Fest, was incredibly encouraging.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. I’m a woman, and I’ve dealt with years of sexism, microaggressions, being underestimated, underpaid, and I’ve often had to risk my career, choosing to speak truth to power and go on the record about on-the-job harassment and all kinds of other problematic situations that weren’t covered in film school!
But I’m also a woman with a certain amount of privilege, and recognizing that has made me aware of how much I can create my own path while holding the door open for others. It’s important to me to use the privilege I have to bring female filmmakers, filmmakers of marginalized genders and backgrounds with me wherever I gain new ground or secure opportunities in my field. I want to use what I’ve been given to make the film industry a more equal space and a safe space for everyone. A space as diverse as the world I live in every day.
Sometimes when doors aren’t being open to you, you have to make your own door, and dealing with a lot of BS as a woman has only sharpened my resourcefulness and empathy for those having to forge their own path. It’s given me a hunger for community and helped me forge relationships with other filmmakers.
All of this also inspired me to establish my own production company, Moonlight Detective, so I have an entity out of which to support my own work and the work of female and marginalized filmmakers.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a filmmaker – a writer, director, and actor, with a production company, Moonlight Detective, and a podcast host! I love performing, and I’m about to start trying standup for the first time.
I specialize in seeing the big picture of a project while making the details special. I love inhabiting all aspects of a film or commercial concept from script to post – storyboarding, costume design, casting, crewing projects, and co-creating with others to enjoy a great vibe on set while making a little bit of magic every day. I also edit and have learned a little color-grading. I also love living within my narratives as an actor, but I’ve been told I’m a great actor’s director. I empathize with the actor’s life and the vulnerability it takes to access emotions in real-time.
I love telling stories, and I’m known for my vulnerability, I’d say – that, my use of color, and my love of imaginative portraits. I write from life experience, so I’d say my films are vulnerable realism with a bit of a whimsical twist.
I believe what sets me apart is my personality, my passion for film in general, and my fine arts training, which shines through everything I do! My podcast, “This Week I Watched”, is a weekly deep dive into a favorite female-directed film with a friend or film industry creative, but it’s also a very trauma- and feminism-informed space where we end up going on tangents about our lives. I feel like that’s so important to include because the right films that strike a chord bring up a lot of deep feels, don’t they?
As an actor, I’m known for my subtlety and vulnerability (there it is again!) as well as my strong improv skills and comedic timing.
As a writer, I’m known for my strengths of writing dialogue and really differentiating the voices of my characters – they are real, distinct people, as well as my almost prose like way of bringing a scene to life on the page – I think this way of describing the world my characters live in also has a practical use – as a jumping off point for discussions with department heads – since I’m so used to directing and producing my work myself, or at the helm of most of those productions.
I’m also a painter, enjoy making my own dresses out of vintage fabrics, and taking film portraits.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
What’s worked well for me is going with my gut and pursuing genuine friendships with folks who I feel drawn to. My podcast has also been a huge help! Most folks would probably be surprised that I sometimes have a shy streak, and having a specific film discussion on the table allows us both to open up about a shared passions and see where it goes from there.
I also think going after anything that interests you that will put you in a room with others – open mic nights, attending shows or events – there’s some femme + queer-forward communities I love connecting with that feel intentional to me – taking classes, acting groups, etc. – these are all great ways to start finding connection. I also think it takes time! It takes time to get to know folks, and it should feel like an investment.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.salliekeena.com
- Instagram: @moonlightdetective
- Other: @thisweekiwatched
