Brielle Brilliant
PAVLI SERENETSKY fka "Brielle Brilliant" (they/them) is a filmmaker and environmentalist who makes place-focused experiences that center ecological connection, genderqueer characters, and visually bold compositions. Their feature-length films include the soon-to-be-released More Beautiful Perversions (2025), about a disillusioned teenager in the city who ends up in the woods learning about plants, and Firstness (2021), about initial perceptions of characters in the New Mexico desert. Firstness received The Grand Jury Prize at Outfest, was nationally distributed by Gravitas Ventures, and screened at MoMA. Pavli is also the author of The Spud (Featherproof Books) and The Curtsy Family (Thoughtcrime Press), which center the darkly comedic experiences of alienated youth. They have been making narrative, experimental, and documentary films and videos for over a decade, starting with their first apprenticeship with the Film-Makers Cooperative in New York, where Pavli was born and raised. In 2022, alongside their close friend artist Sua Yoo, they co-founded the mutual aid collective Purpose Repair Shop, debuting with a recycling project called ALL DREAMS TAKE PLACE IN THE PARKING LOT, in which vacant parking lots in Los Angeles were re-purposed to serve queer peoples' dreams. They have a BA in Philosophy from Colorado College and a MFA from The School of the Art Institute in Chicago. They currently work as an Environmental Educator at The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, where they guide youth and adults through educational experiences in wildlife restoration sites. Pavli spends most of their time walking with their dog, eco-processing 16mm film, and looking at old trees.
