Our mission is to tear down systemic inequalities by nurturing community, demanding visibility, and advocating for lasting and transformative change.
Film Fatales is a non-profit arts organization, talent discovery platform, and membership community dedicated to improving the careers of filmmakers of all marginalized genders through advocacy, community building, and artist development services.
I’m so glad we’re finally attacking this. When I started out I was so naive I didn’t realize what I was up against. There have been times when I was flat-out turned down for a directing job because the producers thought a man would be better.
Film Fatales was the first to champion both my completed feature and future endeavors. With their pointed opportunity sharing, I’ve landed the Woodstock Filmmaker Residency and Ghetto Film School Mythical Creators Grant!
After putting my film LINGUA FRANCA through the Parity Pipeline I had a very successful festival run, including becoming the first trans woman of color to screen a feature at the Venice Film Festival.
The work Film Fatales is doing really works. I was recently hired to direct a million dollar movie with the help from the crew at Film Fatales.
I would be remiss if I did not thank the Film Fatales team for its role in my selection for the Woodstock Film Festival Residency.
I appreciate knowing that I have Parity Pipeline as a cheerleader. Thank you for highlighting women filmmakers and helping me get used to promoting myself!
I will be forever grateful for the Film Fatales Forward Fellowship. I was able to meet other trans filmmakers doing amazing work and thanks to this opportunity I was able to start my dream job as a Documentary professor and also start the developing of my feature documentary film.
I’m one of the participants in the Cine Qua Non Lab Revision Script with my project “Love Letter to Laos”. I would’ve never heard of this if it wasn’t for the pipeline newsletter. I can’t express enough how Film Fatales has been an extremely valuable addition to my career.
I just want to say how much I appreciate all that Film Fatales is doing for women directors. You offer the kind of personal hands on support artists need. I belong to various industry organizations but this is truly the best one a female filmmaker could belong to!
Being a filmmaker is HARD, we all know that. Being a woman filmmaker is HARDER. I know I need my community of women to help me get there. So when I walk through the door of success it’s not just me walking through that door, it’s all the people that have my back.
I got into both the HALF initiative and the WB TV program this year, leading to my first TV directing gig, and I give a lot of credit to your Parity Pipeline! You’re all doing a fantastic job and I’m very thankful.
>- Geeta Malik
Thank you for the recommendation and for getting my foot in the door for OPPA to be read and considered by Almanack. I wouldn’t have even been able to apply if it wasn’t for Film Fatales. A million thanks for all the work that you do.
– Erin Lee
The pipeline was SO helpful in getting my film into way more festivals than I would have thought to apply to – or had the budget for. I had lots of festivals reach out to me to apply with a waiver or see a screener, resulting in thousands more people getting to see the film.
Thank you for doing all you do for us, underrepresented filmmakers… Joining the Parity Pipeline for both my feature doc and recent short film is so far definitely worth it.
It’s not just training, it’s not just a cheering section or suggestions for how to build a career; Film Fatales guides members towards ACTION and promotes us to the folks who offer programs, grants and jobs.
I’ve deeply benefited from being a Film Fatale. The resources and community I’ve received from Day One are unmatched to any other organization that I’ve been a part of.
The Fatales Forward program made me feel encouraged, seen, and it was just powerful to see trans and nonbinary filmmakers who are more established doing their thing.
I feel so lucky to be part of this community. It’s really overwhelming having to navigate this alone. This is such a huge help!
We take an intersectional and action-oriented approach; recommending marginalized creators for funding and distribution opportunities through our Parity Pipeline initiative; providing Hollywood gatekeepers with a clear path to inclusive programming; mentoring the next generation of storytellers through our Fatales Forward fellowship; and sparking public conversation through our Pulling Focus speaker series about the creative process, authentic authorship, and the ongoing movement towards social justice.Through our efforts, scores of emerging and mid-career directors have been hired for directing jobs, received funding, and screened their work at significant film festivals and theaters worldwide.
Cinema is a vehicle for empathy. When historically marginalized voices are able to authentically represent our own communities on screen tangible change occurs.
Our Membership:
20% Queer Creators
35% People With Disabilities
52% Filmmakers of Color
I’m so glad we’re finally attacking this. When I started out I was so naive I didn’t realize what I was up against. There have been times when I was flat-out turned down for a directing job because the producers thought a man would be better.
Film Fatales was the first to champion both my completed feature and future endeavors. With their pointed opportunity sharing, I’ve landed the Woodstock Filmmaker Residency and Ghetto Film School Mythical Creators Grant!
After putting my film LINGUA FRANCA through the Parity Pipeline I had a very successful festival run, including becoming the first trans woman of color to screen a feature at the Venice Film Festival.
The work Film Fatales is doing really works. I was recently hired to direct a million dollar movie with the help from the crew at Film Fatales.
I would be remiss if I did not thank the Film Fatales team for its role in my selection for the Woodstock Film Festival Residency.
I appreciate knowing that I have Parity Pipeline as a cheerleader. Thank you for highlighting women filmmakers and helping me get used to promoting myself!
I will be forever grateful for the Film Fatales Forward Fellowship. I was able to meet other trans filmmakers doing amazing work and thanks to this opportunity I was able to start my dream job as a Documentary professor and also start the developing of my feature documentary film.
I’m one of the participants in the Cine Qua Non Lab Revision Script with my project “Love Letter to Laos”. I would’ve never heard of this if it wasn’t for the pipeline newsletter. I can’t express enough how Film Fatales has been an extremely valuable addition to my career.
I just want to say how much I appreciate all that Film Fatales is doing for women directors. You offer the kind of personal hands on support artists need. I belong to various industry organizations but this is truly the best one a female filmmaker could belong to!
Being a filmmaker is HARD, we all know that. Being a woman filmmaker is HARDER. I know I need my community of women to help me get there. So when I walk through the door of success it’s not just me walking through that door, it’s all the people that have my back.
I got into both the HALF initiative and the WB TV program this year, leading to my first TV directing gig, and I give a lot of credit to your Parity Pipeline! You’re all doing a fantastic job and I’m very thankful.
>- Geeta Malik
Thank you for the recommendation and for getting my foot in the door for OPPA to be read and considered by Almanack. I wouldn’t have even been able to apply if it wasn’t for Film Fatales. A million thanks for all the work that you do.
– Erin Lee
The pipeline was SO helpful in getting my film into way more festivals than I would have thought to apply to – or had the budget for. I had lots of festivals reach out to me to apply with a waiver or see a screener, resulting in thousands more people getting to see the film.
Thank you for doing all you do for us, underrepresented filmmakers… Joining the Parity Pipeline for both my feature doc and recent short film is so far definitely worth it.
It’s not just training, it’s not just a cheering section or suggestions for how to build a career; Film Fatales guides members towards ACTION and promotes us to the folks who offer programs, grants and jobs.
I’ve deeply benefited from being a Film Fatale. The resources and community I’ve received from Day One are unmatched to any other organization that I’ve been a part of.
The Fatales Forward program made me feel encouraged, seen, and it was just powerful to see trans and nonbinary filmmakers who are more established doing their thing.
I feel so lucky to be part of this community. It’s really overwhelming having to navigate this alone. This is such a huge help!
Fatales Forward is an innovative fellowship focused on emerging trans filmmakers working on their debut or sophomore feature films. With support from the NEA, the program consists of three months of one-on-one mentorship with established gender diverse filmmakers, a virtual Career Advancement Intensive, creative peer workshops, and ongoing artist development support.
The marginalization of trans filmmakers actively contributes to the erasure and misrepresentation that lead directly to real world anti-trans violence. Fatales Forward builds new pathways that lead to meaningful career advancement for the voices that the world so desperately needs to hear. Together we will build community, nurture artistic development, and plant the creative spark for future collaborations.
Pulling Focus is a holistic series of educational events, online panel discussions, craft-based workshops, and in-person networking mixers. This year-round programming provides crucial learning to the next generation of filmmakers while also educating the wider public about issues of equity in the film industry. Hands-on, practical workshops and candid conversations from working filmmakers provide invaluable knowledge to people who may not have access to traditional film school programs. Over the past five years, Film Fatales has hosted over 150 webinars and 75 workshops, panels, screenings and mixers in collaboration with the Sundance Institute, SXSW, Tribeca Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, and many more.
The Parity Pipeline is a results-driven initiative from Film Fatales that fights inequities in the film industry by connecting underrepresented creators directly with key decision-makers looking to hire equitably and program inclusively. This functions as both a career development program for Film Fatales members from historically marginalized backgrounds as well as a content discovery platform for our industry allies, which include over 200 production companies, financiers, programmers, grants, labs, fellowships, film festivals, and distributors. We especially focus on advocating for filmmakers of color, trans or gender non-conforming directors, LGBTQIA+ voices, and/or people with disabilities.
Authentic authorship is imperative to true representation, and dismantling the elitist structures in Hollywood demands investment in artists who are directly impacted by systems of oppression. Film Fatales is actively changing the narrative of who gets to share their stories with the world, providing platforms for marginalized voices to step into their power, get their films made and seen, and actualize shifts in culture.
