I have felt for most of my life that I live in the shadow of death.  The fear lurks on darkened streets, where I navigate my female body, my non-binary identity, and my queerness.  It shows up in my fellow citizens, whose intentions I don’t trust.  It taunts me on Trans Day of Remembrance, when we say the names of all the innocent people who have been murdered, without justice.  I scroll by it in my Facebook feed, seeing innocent people of color killed in cold blood, without justice.  As I look into the eyes of my loved ones who are othered by our society, that shadow of death appears behind them, surrounding us.  I see it bubble up within ourselves, when the pain of living a half-life becomes too much, and the soul breaks, unable to keep moving forward, seeking out substances or risks to fulfill what seems to be an inescapable fate, that ever-present shadow, taking whatever it wants, without justice.

Cinefemme is a non-profit started by women filmmakers to serve women who aren’t waiting for permission to make their voices heard.  By granting fiscal sponsorship to women filmmakers, writers, and artists, Cinfemme provides a way for independent projects to solicit tax-deductible donations from individual donors, foundations, and through our crowdfunding partner platform, Seed&Spark. Cinefemme incubates projects that would otherwise struggle to receive traditional studio funding, and empowers women to make their own careers happen.  

There is a movement happening among women in the film industry; a slow-building wave that is taking me and my fellow filmmakers up with it.  In the face of dismal and declining statistics for employment of women in the film industry, women filmmakers are turning to each other for support.  In the process, we’re finding our power.