- [Kayla] I remember,
like, just starting out
in film school, and just
looking around the room
to see a bunch of guys.
And a bunch of guys dominating
conversations all the time,
but not enough women
really directing
and having creative
reins or being trusted
to have the creative reins.
to have the creative reins.
- [Samantha] I felt so alone,
but it was when I started
learning about feminism that
I became much more hopeful,
because I realized that it's
not just happening to me,
it's happening to every woman.
it's happening to every woman.
(pensive music)
(pensive music)
- (laughs) All right, so, hello!
Kayla and I, Samantha,
create a documentary
series called FemBeat.
We feature local feminists,
bad asses, here in Austin,
the work that they do,
and provide a platform
for them to just speak
about their work freely,
uninterrupted, and
unapologetically.
Thank you.
(applause)
(applause)
The origin of FemBeat, it's
not a very happy story,
but it's an important
one, I think.
I was in film school and
I had an audio mentor
who I found out was a
predator, sexual harasser.
who I found out was a
predator, sexual harasser.
I experienced this from
him, and after talking
to other women in the
program, I found out
there was about five other women
who had experienced
harassment from him as well.
And one of them was Kayla.
We dealt with it, we
became really good friends,
and we decided to
kind of explore
why there are these veils of
silence around these topics,
and what we could do about them,
and we decided to make FemBeat.
(bass music)
♪ Fem Beat 
♪ Fem Beat 
♪ Fem Beat 
♪ This is Fem Beat 
♪ This is Fem Beat 
- It was just super relieving
because, the thing is,
before Sam, I didn't
really talk about feminism
so candidly with other people,
even like with my friends
just because it was
just super implied
that we were all feminists
and that we were all
working towards the same goal.
But it wasn't until I met Sam
that I was able to actually,
like, call it feminism,
and really be proud
about it really
openly, because I feel
like I've been championing
these values for a long time.
like I've been championing
these values for a long time.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
- [Samantha] I've gotta
say, working on FemBeat
for a couple years now, I
have this confidence now
that I did not have before, I
did not have in film school.
I'm so grateful for that,
and I know that I had
to fight for it, so it's
not just like it happened.
to fight for it, so it's
not just like it happened.
- [Group] One, two,
three, FemBeat!
(all cheer)
- I just always
hope that it ends up
inspiring conversations,
or at least just like
getting people's brains jogging.
I feel like one of
the biggest things
that Sam and I care about
when we release an episode
is that it makes these
women visible to people
that might be sort of
struggling or lost.
Just because I know that
when I was growing up,
I didn't really have a lot
of, like, women role models
that I could aspire to be like.
("Clair de Lune"
by Claude Debussy)
("Clair de Lune"
by Claude Debussy)
- I remember in film school,
my teacher telling us,
"Just get used to the
fact that your subjects
"aren't going to like
the final product."
"aren't going to like
the final product."
And that never sat well with me,
I'm never gonna accept
that, I always want people
to feel comfortable
with how it comes out.
And so far, that's
been the case,
so I'm really happy
about that, yeah.
("Clair de Lune"
by Claude Debussy)
("Clair de Lune"
by Claude Debussy)
- I think the biggest
goal is just to keep
making episodes for
as long as we can.
making episodes for
as long as we can.
I mean, we've met with our
next subject, Martha Cotera,
who is a lifelong
Chicana feminist
who's like, done so much
work here in Austin.
Just, like, hearing about
all of her accomplishments
and everything she's
done so far has, like,
really made my head spin.
Other than that, we're just
trying to find funding,
Other than that, we're just
trying to find funding,
and just trying to
make money. (laughs)
So we can keep making episodes,
and getting to know more women.
and getting to know more women.
- FemBeat is very
liberating in the way that
we are the crew,
we are the bosses,
we love to have all
women crew as well,
and it's just, we're so
free and unquestioned,
and it's awesome.
- I remember when
Sam came up to me
after one of our last
screens to tell me
that this girl was just like,
"I've watched your episodes
"and cried in my room by myself
"because they're so inspiring."
And to see, like, sort of
the way that's changed,
like, my parents and
some of my friends,
and to see how much
people really support us
and want to even help
us a lot of the time,
that's been really
surprising and neat.
that's been really
surprising and neat.
- Working with Kayla is
one of my favorite things
in the world, I could just
gush and gush about it.
The way that we were
brought together was very...
The way that we were
brought together was very...
intense and hard, but
it definitely bonded us,
it definitely revealed
to me that we had
really similar
values and passions,
and that we were in this.
and that we were in this.
