Meet Samantha Shada | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Samantha Shada and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Samantha, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Balancing is a process, not a destination. I used to think I could fix certain things about my life; my job, my relationships, what time I got up in the morning, and that then somehow my whole way of being would be rectified. Now I see that balancing is a moment by moment process. When I think about a tightrope walker on a high wire, each step requires rebalancing and the slower they go the more carefully they must readjust. As I’m learning to slow down and sink into the quality of my life, I find that balance is a constant adjusting and shifting and changing to meet the evolving circumstances of my life at each moment. Everything around me can throw me out of balance when I am not centered in my own body and my own values, priorities and objectives.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am committed to elevating platforms for stories that center the female experience. My work reclaims a matriarchal narrative that is submerged in the capitalization of media. When a story excites or inspires me, it releases the tension of needing to define or describe all the big feelings bottled up inside of me. I feel proud when I accurately contain my own felt experience in a moment on camera, in a picture that moves, in a story that resonates with what I know to be true.

I wouldn’t be where I am in my filmmaking career without a village of support. I am ever indebted to the cast and crew of my narrative short films, Beauty School and Sexless, which both premiered at the Oscar Qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival and went on to broadcast world wide on ShortsTV. These talented individuals trusted me and contributed their own lived experiences to our work together. Creative teamwork is more than a career. The people I work with are my most dedicated friends.

Since 2015 I have been working on an adaptation of Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark. Again, a village of support surrounds this process. I met so many wonderful writers through Sundance Co//abs, Stowe Story Labs, and the Joan Scheckel Filmmaking Labs. My work improves every time I welcome feedback from a new reader. Being vulnerable and sharing with others opens and deepens my writing process. I am always ready to trade reads with another writer and honestly value and appreciate any feedback I receive. I know I must expand to an even larger community of supporters as I move forward with production on this ambition feature project.

I also direct and produce theater in Los Angeles and have staged plays locally with The Blank Theater and Theater West among others. Directing readings for writer development incubators keeps my creative muscles flexible, refines my way of communicating and strengthens my creative network. I’m never afraid to jump in and play in the sandbox of theatre. It’s truly where I feel most at home.

Finding community is essential for my work creatively. I have been a proud member of The Alliance of Women Directors and Women In Media. I also volunteered with Women in Film LA and programmed Seeking Our Story, a Hollywood based screening series featuring influential films directed by women. I have found my tribe through these collectives. Lifting up the stories of other women has helped me rewrite my own story. Living a creative lifestyle is not easy, and I know that I am not alone. We are all in this together.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Los Angeles is full of hidden nooks and crannies. My favorite part? Historic theatre tours along Broadway in downtown, hosted by The LA Conservancy. Film history is so entwined with this city and also so easily destroyed and built over again. It is a temporary art form and the DTLA Historic Core captures such a unique point in the city’s history.

I also enjoy finding murals from East LA to Venice. Murals throughout the city are like an ever evolving art gallery reminding me of the history of all people, especially Indigenous peoples, that live where I occupy land.

A trip to LA isn’t complete without a visit to the Hollywood Sign. One of my favorite stop overs in Griffith Park is the Autry Museum of the American West. This unassuming space helped me feel more connected to California as a transplant from Colorado. And if I feel really inclined to play up those Colorado roots, I’ll hike up from the Boy Scouts Camp to Amir’s Garden or even ride my bike up the Fire Trail to the Observatory (though I only successfully did that once so far.)

Some restaurants that make me love living in LA: Gjusta in Venice, La Pergoletta in Los Feliez, Salazar’s in Frogtown and that dumpling house that was on Anthony Bourdain’s show Myung in Dumplings in Korea Town.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Re-centering my creative process over the last few years took immense support and encouragement. I am blessed with many kind, powerful women who encourage me, teach me and remind me of what I already know to be true about myself.

Shout out to Carole Isenberg and the late Sue Kiel for their women’s circle, The Mother Lode, which reminded me to thank my mother for the gift of life.
https://www.mariashriversundaypaper.com/celebrating-mother-carol-isenberg/

Shout out to Joan Scheckel for teaching me that feeling inspires action inspires feeling inspires action (and that if I want to change my feeling I have to change my action.)
https://joanscheckel.com/

Shout out to Rie Katagiri for giving me access to my body again by reorienting me towards pleasure.
https://www.riekatagiri.com/

Shout out to Tema Staig for empowering women of all backgrounds to tell their stories through Women In Media. https://womennmedia.com/

Shout out to Julia Verdin for speaking up for those who can’t tell their own stories and, through her organization Artists For Change, producing films that positively transform society. https://www.artists4change.org/

Shout out to the ladies of Ten Women Gallery for their tenacity and dedication to sharing their artwork and for inviting me in to their cooperative business model. https://www.tenwomengallery.com/

Shout out to the work of JoAnne Akalaitis, Anne Bogart, Willa Cather, Julie Dash, Germaine Dulac, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, María Irene Fornés, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Nadine Labaki, Susan Sontag, Agnès Varda, Marion Woodman and so many others who have reaching inside my own experience and touched my heart with their insight and language for our shared humanity.

Shout out to all the creative, beautiful, talented friends I have made along this path. You keep me motivated to show up and open up to the flow of creativity through me and around me.

Website: https://samanthashada.com/

Other: https://thesongofthelarkfilm.com/