LABOR &
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WHO ARE YOU?

My name is Britney Bautista. I am a filmmaker. I'm a director and cinematographer, and I live in Brooklyn, New York.


WHAT DREW YOU TO FILMMAKING?

I always knew I was a very artsy person ever since I was in middle school. I did a lot of musical theater and plays in high school, but I was super shy and anxious as a kid. so being on stage was a lot for me. Regarding film, I always made little videos on iMovie, and I think that's where I got my start as a filmmaker if you count that. When I was around 12 or 13, I made a stop-motion animation music video of Thriller by Michael Jackson with my American Girl Dolls using iMovie. I also made a Gangnam style parody with my brothers  which  was a Christmas present for my mom and dad for some absurd reason. The video was a shot by shot recreation of the actual music video.  From there, I just knew I love making videos. I later went to a vocational high school, which had  different academies. My academy was visual and performing arts, and that’s  where I learned photography, filmmaking, graphic design, and theater. During that time, I made a lot of different short films such as narrative films, music videos, and dance films. I made a lot of music videos for fun.

Then around junior or senior year of high school, I did a residency at NYU, and I think that's where I really felt like I had potential as a filmmaker. At the residency, I made this documentary called Your Name Is Britney, and it basically talks about how I felt my identity has always been  shaped by other people in my life, and I didn't feel like I had a sense of self because  I was kind of always trying to fit in  with the social groups around me. I would always adopt my friend’s and peers’ personalities, and because of that I didn't really know my own personality. So that was my most vulnerable film to date. And surprisingly, people really enjoyed it. It won a couple film festivals. After highschool, I went to Pratt Institute for film, and I started taking film more seriously, making more documentaries, and more narratives. And yeah, here I am today! Still making films.



YOU STARTED FREELANCING AT 16, HOW WAS THAT EXPERIENCE?

Wait, where did you…? Did I tell you guys that?

E: No, he just digs. He really does his research.

Oh, I was like, how do you know that? (laughing) So, I got my start in filmmaking working in G&E, which is grip and electric,the lighting side of film, because my uncle works as an electric. He brought me on to a lot of gigs, and I worked under him since I was around 16. My first ever official gig was a Glossier commercial, and I was so unprofessional. We have this term called "green" in the film industry. I don't know how that translates to other industries, but it's basically like when you're super inexperienced. So my first time on set, I was super starstruck because there were a  bunch of beauty gurus and influencers that I knew. It was just something really special because it was just eye-opening to see that I could be part of this really cool industry and play with lights. And then later, I started getting into camera a bit more after working at a camera rental house called AbelCine, and then I started freelancing as an AC, which is assisting cameras.

C: Were there any difficulties when you were starting out?

Yes, and there's still consistent difficulties. One just being me, being an Asian woman. Just being a POC woman on set is difficult alone, especially working in G&E because it's a predominantly male industry. Everybody I work with is usually white and usually really old because grip and electric is usually a very physical job, so they think that, “Oh it's physical labor, men need to do it .” every time I'm on set working, I would always encounter people who’d say, “Oh, can you carry this? Are you sure you can carry this? I can carry this for you.” So I always felt like I had to ‘prove myself’ on set. And even as an AC, I feel like a lot of ACs are women because they assist the camera operators, it’s an assistant job. And so, people think that women are only capable of that job because that’s assisting someone else in power, which is prevalent in not only the film industry. So there are a lot of little boxes that I was put in even when I was on set. Sometimes, when I come on set, people would think I was the makeup artist or the talent. So, it was really hard being on set to begin with because I was just constantly trying to prove people wrong, and prove that I was one of them.



TALK ABOUT THE CREATIVE PROCESS BEHIND Fruits of Your Labor

Fruits of Your Labor was actually a product of a competition I did called Finish The Script, which is a competition run by Dolby Digital and Ghetto Film School. Ghetto Film School is  a 30-month intensive film program that provides film education to the youth, and I did the program when I was in high school.  The Finish The Script competition came to fruition through a writer and director named Carlos Estrada, who writes a one-page scene, about  a very specific scenario. This year, the scene was of  this old woman who walks into her room, plays a cassette tape, listens to it, and transforms into a younger woman. And so you have to take that scene and incorporate it into your own film somehow, and that's why it's called Finish the Script. I took that scene and put my own little twist on it, but I still kept the  “body-switch” aspect of it .The film itself was inspired by Jackson Heights, and the importance of the immigrants in New York City. It commentates on how transplants hold a stigma against boroughs outside of Manhattan because of immigrants.

I'm obviously a transplant too. I can't separate myself from the group of people I talked about in the film. I moved here from New Jersey, and initially when I moved here, I also had this kind of skewed perception of what I thought New York was. And I didn't really realize the significance of the immigrants in our city. I feel like they're constantly overlooked, and people always want to be the first to try to push them out. But, they literally run our city, and there's so many businesses and restaurants that wouldn't be open if it weren't for them.

And so, when I first moved to Jackson Heights, I discovered  Little Manila, which is really cool because  it's basically this little neighborhood full of Filipino people. And Jackson Heights itself is so full of culture and life.  There's a  mural there that says:  “Jackson Heights: The Entire World in One Neighborhood,” which is I think the perfect way to describe it. There's Indian, Chinese, Dominican, Filipino, people, so many different cultures melting together, and I feel like that is kind of like the heart of New York—just like all of these different cultures blending together, and it was so inspiring to see. So, I wanted to make a film kind of paying homage to that neighborhood.


HOW DOES YOUR CULTURE IMPACT YOUR WORK?

It definitely influenced my work so much. In the beginning,I felt like my films should be separate from myself, and I should make art that's different from myself because film is making stuff that's fiction and not real. And then the more I explored with my work, especially doing the documentary, Your Name Is Britney, I realized that the more personal your work is, the more people are able to connect with it. And, it was just easier for me to tell stories because they're literally true.

Porcelain comes from the personal experience of opening up to my family about mental illness and that struggle. And at first, I was so scared to come out with that because I was scared of how it would be received, especially bythe older Filipino community. Mental illness is such a taboo subject in Filipino culture, we don't really talk about it . And when I came out with it, I showed it to my family as well, and they actually really loved it. A couple of my friends were in tears after the screening just because it touched them, and it felt so personal. And I think that's what film is all about, like being able to change minds and see the world in a different way, and maybe even inspire you to change things in your own life.I have a lot of friends that also  struggle with mental illness. They're like, "Oh, I'm going through the same thing. Thank you so much for making this." It's not something you usually see on screen. And I want to continue representing my culture in my future films.



HOW WAS YOUR FIRST TIME BEING THE DIRECTOR OF A FILM?

initially, I didn't think of myself as a director because in my head, a director is the top of the pyramid; you are the leader, you are in control of everything. And I just didn't think of myself as a leader. It's just like, it's a lot of pressure, and there's a lot of attention on you. And I didn't know if I was ready for that. But then, I worked on a lot of sets where I was doing lighting  or camera  and I would just look at the director and be like, dang, like they're not taking control, they’re not commanding the crew. They don't know what they want. They're not decisive. And I was like, okay, maybe I can do what I don't see in these other directors I’ve worked with, and maybe I can actually take charge.

And so, I just started directing like an actual crew. I used to work on indie film crews in high school and college where there were like three people. It was like me, camera, and sound. And then, around sophomore year of college, I actually got legit crews where there were 20 of us. For Fruits of Your Labor, It was 27 people or something- the biggest crew I’ve ever managed. it's definitely a lot of pressure, but I feel like if you know what you want from the start, and if you remind yourself why you're here, why you're doing this film, it should be an easy process. I guess it's easy in a way that if you love the film that you're making, and you love the work, then it should be easy.

But at the same time, it is hard because you're managing so many different groups. Like people will come up to you and be like, “Oh, what do you think of this costume for this character? do you think it's okay?” Then you have to talk to makeup and you have to talk to the camera, and your mind is all over the place.  As someone who has social anxiety and struggles to talk to people a lot, it's a lot for me. But, I think you train yourself during every film, and I think confidence is the biggest thing that I look for in directors and I aspire to have. I think you kind of have to fake it till you make it, even if you're not super confident about yourself. If you act confident, people will follow, and people will believe you. You have to have a positive attitude as well, because if you're like a super low-energy, negative director, no one else is going to be motivated for the film. You're basically the reason people are brought onto this film, so if your energy is low, no one else is going to be excited for the project. So, you kind of just have to keep the morale up.



FAVORITE FILMS OR DIRECTORS?

Yorgos Lanthimos. He directed the movie The Favourite with Emma Stone. I love his style because, as a director, I always want to be idiosyncratic. That is my goal as a director—someone to look at my work and be like, “Yeah. That's Britney's work.” And when I look at Yorgo's work, it's so distinct to his style. He writes super weird, obscure characters that do unexpected things in normal-seeming scenarios. The way his characters act are so alien-like, and awkward, and this is never really questioned in any of his films. I just love that because he kind of exaggerates these super awkward moments in life land makes stories about them. His films transforms you to a different world and makes you question things about life, and I think that's what film is all about—just having fun. And he just lets his imagination take him to wherever in his films, so I really like that.

And of course, Wes Anderson. I feel like that 's like a very basic answer, but I was super inspired by his work ever since I was like 16. He's also very idiosyncratic, which I love. And all of his work, like every single frame of his films, is so amazing and engaging. When I am watching one of his films, I never can take my eyes away from the screen. He really inspired me to be a cinematographer because I feel like he really encapsulates mise-en-scène, which basically means that  everything in the frame matters. His compositions within his film are so perfect, and I wanted to make that do that as a director of photography. So yeah, Wes inspired me like director-photography-wise, and then I think Yorgos just inspired me like director-wise.


WHY DO SOME OF YOUR FILMS SUCH AS Cyber Mom and Porcelain HAVE DARKER TONES?

I really love dark comedy. Like, if I were to write comedy, I mean, Fruits of Your Labor is kind of a comedy, but I don't think I'm particularly good at normal comedy. I think I'm good at really dark, fucked up humor. because that's my kind of humor in real life, just like really horrible things happening. Is that bad to say?  I really love dark comedy and just like sarcasm. And I love films  that don't always end well. I feel like in films, the convention is for everything to end well or end on a good note. And it's either extremely good or extremely bad. Like, at the end, like someone dies or like someone gets shot, and they're mourning and grieving, or they fall in love, and they're happy like with their friends.

But I always love to explore kind of like the endings that are like in-between, and they're not good or bad, and I think I kind of did that with Porcelain. I mean, Cyber Mom is really fucked up. Like her daughter gets kidnapped, but it was in a funny way, I guess, where the mom didn't even notice. And I feel like it was commenting on how social media and Instagram influencers are just so engrossed in their media that they don't even notice what's happening around them, even their own children.

But Porcelain, the ending wasn't good or bad. It was kind of just like showing progress in a relationship, and I really love those endings 'cause it kind of represents real life. Like nothing ever ends in good or bad. I mean, that's really rare. Like there's always steps towards something. So, it makes you think about the future of their relationship and all the possible outcomes. I wanna keep making more endings like that.



WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TYPE OF FILM TO PRODUCE?

That's super hard. The thing that comes easiest to me is documentary just because it's literally documenting real life. And I feel like within a lot of my films now, it has this element of real life andnothing feels forced. It kind of just feels like a slice of life, and you're capturing these real people and these real things that happen in real life. A with all of my work, I usually like to highlight communities that are usually underrepresented or weren't given a voice, and I like to give those people a voice. So in my documentary Second Act , which hasn't come out yet, it's a documentary about background actors. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but they're the extras on set. They're basically the crowd of people in the back of TV shows and movies that are usually out of focus, that just seem to fill up a space. You usually don’t pay attention or think anything of these people.

But I got to talk to three of them and have them tell their stories, and you really kind of see the importance of these people. And now one of the subjects was like saying that his sister can't watch TV shows anymore because she's always paying attention to what's going on in the background of shows. She's always looking at the background actors, and I think I love documentaries in that way where if you didn't know about these groups of people, you wouldn't care about them. But then, you watched this thing, and now you're so hyper aware of it. So, that's what I love to do in documentaries.

I think directing fashion films is so fun. I love fashion. I want to make more fashion films, and I feel like it's a guilty pleasure because I wouldn't even want to get paid for it, I would just do it for fun. I wouldn't even try to submit it to festivals anywhere. And that's my guilty pleasure thing to watch because I'm such a visual person.


CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR DOCUMENTARY GIVE ME A SMILE?

Yeah, so that documentary was actually about street harassment on a universal scale . I had this group of women talk about their experiences with street harassment and catcalling, and it was a very personal documentary because it's something I've experienced as well. Street harassment  isn't normally talked about because it's so normalized in society. Like every time my friends want to go out, they always have to cover up because they know they'll get catcalled. Or, they'll just come back from outside and be like, “Oh, I just got catcalled three times,” and we won't see that as an issue. We will just be like, “Oh, that's just like New York.” I feel like that documentary really opened up conversation for that issue because I feel like it emphasized how much of a generational issue it is as well. people try to blame it on what women wear, and how they're dressed. People want to say it's their fault, or they're asking for it, but if you raise your children to respect women, or respect anybody in general, they wouldn't catcall. So you know it's all about educating the future generation.




LEAST FAVORITE PART OF CREATING?

Probably screenwriting. I feel like screenwriting is really hard for me because again, I like talking about real things; that's the only thing I really feel like comes naturally to me. It's really hard for me to write organic dialogue. And so, something I like to do  is  sit on  the subway or sit in a cafe, and just listen to people talk. And when I kind of find something interesting, I'll write it in my notes, or I'll voice memo. Sometimes, I just listen to the way my roommates talk to each other. I feel like that's the only way to get truly organic dialogue, is to just listen to people. So in a way, as a director, you have to be a people observer and just notice the people around you. The best way to write dialogue is to observe.


HOW DID YOUR PARENTS REACT TO YOU WANTING TO GO INTO FILM?

Yeah, that's a whole other story. So I feel like it was kind of like a typical Asian parent reaction as you would expect. They thought that I wanted to be a vet, like that was my original plan. I've always wanted to be a vet because I loved animals. And then later on in life, I was like I don't want to be a vet. I kind of want to do something art related. And I knew that was going to be a big thing with my family. they knew I made films in high school, but  they thought it was kind of more like a hobby thing. They were like, "Okay, just let her do her little hobbies, do her little films." And then I think it was when I told them I wanted to go to school for film, then they were like, "Uh-oh." it was only until I showed them Your Name Is Britney, and until I was winning at film festivals that  they saw that I might have potential in this industry. So I really had to prove it to them because they were always worried about me being financially unstable, and even up to like a couple years ago, they were still really skeptical. They never were like, "don't do it," which I really appreciate, but they were always skeptical. So I think I felt like there wasmore pressure to make good films. It wasn't just a hobby anymore, and I think that's something that also sucks about being a minority and being a person of color in this industry is you kind of have to prove yourself to your family as well.


I feel like a lot of POC and lower-class people in the film industry have to work harder. I just did this seminar forum thing yesterday at Arri rental. The forum was kind of like an open space for Asian filmmakers to talk about their problems in the film industry. And one of my friends said, as a person of color, as an Asian man, he felt like he had to work three times harder than his white coworkers. And a lot of people agreed with that, and it's just something that we struggle with a lot in the industry, is just being respected as an Asian person. And so the whole forum was just us discussing those issues.it was really comforting to know that we're all going through this, we were all in this together we want to be more visible and seen. So it was really nice.



I think my parents are super proud of me now, especially because of my Dolby digital film. And I actually got to fly out my mom and my grandma to LA for the premiere of it. It was a huge premiere at the Dolby Digital Theater, and a bunch of people came. It was so nice just to see my grandma, and my mom, watch my work on a big screen. I felt like I've just come full circle because I could have never imagined that I would be in that state, where I would have like a little red carpet for me, and have all this press for me, and all these people interview me. I was feeling a little bit of imposter syndrome. And again,that's something a lot of Asian artists always struggle with when they feel successful. They're like, "Oh, why am I getting all this fame? This feels weird to be in this position." I felt like I wasn't worthy of all of this. And I was like, I feel like other people could be in my place right now it definitely does come with insecurity. It's kind of like your inner child, thinking that you aren't capable. And all of the people in your life telling you that you aren’t capable, but you kind of have to step out of that. And at some point, I realized I do deserve this, and I worked hard to get here. it's just something you'll always battle with. But you always have to remind yourself you deserve it, and everything that you did that led up to this point. Everything that happens in your life, there's always a reason for it.

C: So you go to Pratt for film. Where else did you apply for school?

I had my NYU as my dream school, and I got rejected from it, and I was so heartbroken. I was like, I have to go to Pratt. but Pratt helped me so much in  exploring  my style in filmmaking, and I feel like that wouldn't have happened if I was at another school because Pratt just really encourages you to step outside of the box and try different things. A lot of my professors were very supportive  of dogma filmmaking, which is a kind of filmmaking where you literally go against every single rule of filmmaking, and I've never been to a school like that. So, I really love that people are making weird stuff.


IS IT DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO SHARE YOUR WORK?

Yeah. I feel like there's always gonna be people that don't like your film, and that's something I've learned. When I first started making films, I would get a lot of feedback. And in film school, you have to do crits. There's one film class where I had to show a film I made every two weeks,And we would have to get crit on it, like the whole class would go around and basically roast you. criticism is always something I had so much anxiety over. I was so scared of what people were going to think about my work. And initially, I didn't take constructive criticism really well. I would get really sad, and I would be so down on myself. The first ever film I made for Pratt, like freshman year, I thought this was a banger film. I was like, this is gonna go to Tribeca, this is crazy. And it was the most underdeveloped story about this homeless man, and it literally had no story, and my teacher roasted it. She had no kind of sympathy for these new, these babies going into college. she was just like, “This is wrong. This is wrong. This is wrong.” Like went through my film, scrubbed through it, paused, and was like, “You shouldn't do this. You shouldn't do this. Guys, this is like red flag filmmaking.”

And I went to the bathroom, and I bawled. I was like, I'm not a filmmaker. I can't be a filmmaker, I'm not good enough. But  she was right, honestly. even though in the moment, you think these people are there to tear you down. But no, they’re there to help you. And with every film I make, I look back at the films. talking about Cyber Mom and my other films,  I look at those and I cringe now because I'm like, “Damn, what was I doing?” I feel like when you look at your previous work and you cringe at it, I feel like it's a good sign because it's a sign of growth, and it's a sign that you're getting better at what you're making. I feel like with every film, I become more refined and more sophisticated, and I know what I want more, and I know what to avoid. And I feel like film is like a trial and error process. you make this film, you make a ton of mistakes and then you learn what not to do  in your next film. And so, I'm just like dialing in closer and closer to making better films.



DID YOU REALLY HAVE TWO MILLIONS FOLLOWERS?

No.

C: And where’s your Hello Kitty camera?

Oh my God, I had to delete that bio because, I was like, I'm getting a lot of people who I am working with in the industry following me. And I feel like I can't be unserious anymore. Like I actually have to be serious.

E: Oh, so it's not two million anymore?

No, it was never two million. Now it's just like, I don't even know what I put. I just put some like random bio. Because after I did that seminar thing, a lot of people were following me. I might put it back though if the fans want it.

C: You gotta commit to the bit.

I don't know if you follow a lot of filmmakers, but if you see their bio it's always like “Arri Alexa mini camera owner and operator.” Like they always put the camera they operate in their bio so they get more jobs. So I'm like fuck that shit, let me put a Hello Kitty toy camera. I feel like that's cooler. I don't even have it.

E: Well, now you need to bring it back because if we put this in the interview, we're gonna be like, what are they talking about?

Okay, I'll do it just for you guys. I stole the “deleted at 2.7 million” bio from Daniel Caesar. I think that's really funny because like I remember there was an era when people used to put that in their bio. Like you were deleted at like 500k or something, like who cares?


WHAT IS PLANNED NEXT?

That's a hard question. I just graduated, so I'm gonna try to keep freelancing. I don't know, I'm really lost right now. It's hard graduating. I really thought that I would have more of a goal and a vision. I originally didn't want to be a director. It's really hard to make money as a director and get paid for your work. If you want to direct, usually you have to fundraise and make your own stuff, and hopefully it gets picked up at a film festival and makes money through there. So my original track was just D.P. and just working as a D.P. because that's the only feasible way I could think of making money, and then more and more people came up to me, and they saw me as a director. They're like, "You're a director, right?" and I was like, “I mean, I guess I am now.” So I think I'm trying to identify and brand myself more as a director as well as a cinematographer. I am currently working on a feature film right now. I have a lot of ideas, and I’m just in the process of developing and working on all of them right now.

I have a documentary called The Stolen Children that I've been working on for four years. It’s a project I’m doing with my friend, I'm the D.P for the project. It's basically about my friend named Lizzie who  was adopted from Cambodia, and she lives in Boston with a white family now. But it basically uncovers the whole baby trafficking scandal in Cambodia that not a lot of people know about. And she thinks that she might have been one of the children that was baby trafficked.  So we're going to Cambodia to kind of uncover the truth and go back to her orphanage, and the village she was born in, - and hopefully find her birth parents. It’s all essentially about her reconnecting with her  culture. Then we're also going to Hawaii as well to hopefully find Lauren Galindo, who was the leader of the baby trafficking ring, and interview her.




WRAPPING UP!

C: Want to shout out to your brother Darryl?

Whoa! How do you know that? That's scary.

E: I was waiting for that one

No seriously, how do you know that?

C: I was going through your TikTok. I had to watch your videos because I was like maybe she put something, like a little tidbit, that I would like to use in the interview.

Oh god, you went… I'm so sorry wait, but I mentioned my brother?

C: No, ‘cause in one video, your mom was crossing a river, and she’s like “Oh, Darryl hold my bag.” You remember that?

That seems like a fun job. Like I love stalking people, so I feel like I would enjoy that. Just like going through.

E: He’s our Nardwuar.

Shoutout to my mom! Shoutout Silvia Bautista, and shoutout my dog Jax and cat Cous Cous!


PLEASE WATCH BRITNEY’S FILMS! SHE IS A SUPER TALENTED DIRECTOR AND THE ACEDIA TEAM IS EXCITED FOR WHAT SHE HAS COMING UP NEXT!

MORE OF BRITNEY’S WORK CAN BE VIEWED ON HER PORTFOLIO SITE.

CREDITS

SUBJECT/BRAND : BRITNEY BAUTISTA @_britneybautista

PHOTOGRAPHER : LAURA SONG @gh0stpimp 

MODEL : BRITNEY BAUTISTA @_britneybautista

EDITOR: FELICE DONG @felice.112

TEXT : E&C* @acediastudios