Meet Colleen C Brady | Documentary Filmmaker & Editor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Colleen C Brady, and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Colleen, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?

Truthfully, I didn’t know if this was the career for me for a very long time. Sure, I was creative, but I was interested in a lot of things. No one thing stuck out to me. When I applied for colleges, I picked a different major at each university. After I got my acceptances, the decision was made by how far away I wanted to be from home and financial aid. It so happened that I ended up with film, and that was probably because I had taken a documentary class the past summer. It was the first time I was pursuing something I didn’t know much about and, frankly, wasn’t very good at. I was designated as the editor for my very first project in college, and though it was difficult at first, the timeline quickly turned into a very intriguing puzzle – one I had never come across before. And it was incredibly satisfying when sequences would work out, when I could start seeing the language of film materialize in b-roll. From there, I kept going. It felt so gratifying to grow and continually challenge myself in ways that felt so abstract at first. And when it became time to “be serious” and think about my career, I just wanted to tell stories, and beautiful ones at that. I wanted to edit and watch the story come to life with my cuts and splices and transitions. All of this is to say that I really didn’t have a strong calling; it took me a while to find a path that felt like my own. But wherever I went, I leaned into what interested me, and I landed right at the trailhead.

How do you think about risk and what role has taking risks played in your life/career?
When I was a kid, I was a competitive gymnast for nearly a decade, and this gave me exposure to calculated risks early on. Building your skill set as a gymnast always required you to prepare with certain movements or strength training. Then when you attempted a new skill, you had a coach spot you. Safety was of paramount importance, so you took risks, but it was never like jumping off the precipice with a blindfold and hoping you landed on your feet. A simple approach manifested in my career. Obviously, you can’t predict the unknown, but you can certainly prepare and research to the best of your ability, and if nothing else, that helps build confidence going into something new. At the core of it, I always ask myself, “if it turns out to be the worst case scenario, will I survive this?” And the answer is usually “yes”.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

My work is primarily documentaries dealing with themes of transformation and community identity. My first documentaries, Geronimo: The Series, told the stories of a veterinarian dealing with compassion fatigue reclaiming her body through aerial arts as well as an artist using circus arts to unify and beautify her community in Philadelphia. It was a great learning experience and hearing their stories helped me come into my own. It was important to me to tell an authentic story, but also one with an optimistic ending – that there was a silver lining amidst the struggle.

When I began my first feature, Firebird: Built to Burn, we faced a lot of unforeseeable circumstances, including a global pandemic. The documentary follows a year in the life of a small-town community putting on an annual festival, where they build a 25-foot wooden bird and then burn it down in a single night. Still a great learning experience, but while my first documentaries were more about building my confidence, the feature dealt with my endurance. It was by far the longest project I had ever committed to and the most complicated. There was rarely an easy aspect to it, coupled with the fact that I was simultaneously balancing a full-time job as an editor. A lot of the challenges had to do with conditions we couldn’t control or predict, not to mention the fact that we were young and relatively inexperienced. Having a supportive network of friends and family definitely helped us weather through the hardships, but ultimately, a fierce tenacity powered us through exhaustion and bad tidings. It’s easy to give in. It takes grit and perseverance to forge on when there feels like little reason to do so. But unless I make my art, my films, there’s a strong chance no one else ever would, and I wasn’t willing to settle for that. And there’s my silver lining amidst the struggle: I got to tell a story on such a large scale and be a thread in the tapestry of this community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia – Check out Chinatown, the Chinese New Year Festival + Terakawa Ramen is fantastic. The Philadelphia Museum of Art + Rodin Museum are musts. Can’t go wrong with all the fun stores on South Street and the Magic Gardens. Then end the day at Woody’s.

New Hope/Lambertville – I would love to gatekeep this place, but alas! This area is full of galleries and unique storefronts, as well as fine dining – all connected by a lovely pedestrian bridge. New Hope Ferry Market has lots of great vendors including a vineyard that makes the best dessert wines I’ve ever tasted. I will never miss going into Fred Eisen Leather either if open.

New Jersey:
Monclair: Grab a coffee at Paper Planes Coffee, look at some art at the Montclair Art Museum and Studio Montclair, go antiquing at Montclair Antique Center, Ani Ramen across the street for lunch, and then catch a movie at The Clairidge (shoutout to Montclair Film).
Notable favs in NJ: Antique Bar & Bakery (Hoboken), Gaia & Loki (Jersey City), Van Vleck House & Gardens (Montclair), Ramapo County Valley Reservation (Ramsey), Mitsuwa Marketplace (Edgewater)

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I most definitely would not have made it this far without an amazing network of people who love and care for me. Every step of the way, I’ve had friends and family encourage me and listen to my lengthy ramblings, but also offer their help where my knowledge fell away. Not to mention the colleagues who have challenged me to be better. But I would be remiss if I didn’t shoutout the folks that raised me. Early on, my parents instilled an incredible work ethic and an appreciation for education. And to that point, I’m immensely grateful for my education and college experiences. That was a pivotal time for me, where I met a lot of great people and had many adventures.

Website: https://www.firebirddocumentary.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cucumberapocalypse/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleencbrady/

Image Credits
Angel Fajardo, Natalie Phillips, Dan Whitehead, Ariana Sarwari