Asking a stranger to be my new husband at a Festival | BraveMaker Film Festival Day 2 of 5 2026

I looked across the room and I found my new husband. >> Do you fit the description of who I'm looking for as my husband, >> but I've been married for years and that's because I wrote a film based on my relationship with my husband and now I need to find an on camera husband and today I am at day two of five of the Brave Maker Film Festival. My name is Belhika and I am an actor and filmmaker in the Bay and beyond. I want to bring you along, especially if you are an actor, so you can really see what it's like to network at events like this because for me, networking is like if you ask me, do you want to go into a room full of people with similar interests as you and maybe make new friends? So, watch the entire vlog so you get to know filmmakers from Redwood City, Sacramento, LA, Atlanta, New York, and so many other places. And who knows, maybe you'll run into them at an event or on set and you'll have this video as a conversation starter like, "Hey, didn't you go to the Bravemaker Film Festival? I saw you in this video." >> I just got to the film mixer and I'm going to get some coffee and some breakfast. The almost daily 9:00 a.m. film mixers at the festival are a great place to meet people because Tony encourages people to meet one-on-one, but we also get a chance to share about ourselves or our projects to the whole room. I need to go ask him if he's local because if he's local, I need to see his real. And if his real is good, I'm going to cast him. Yeah. Oh my god. I hope he's an actor because he fits the description of this character perfectly. >> Hi, I'm Bena. Okay, you fit the description of who I'm looking for as my husband. So, I would love to see your real. I'm shooting a short film, ultra low budget. Oh my god, you guys. Oh my god. I might have just met the actor that I'm going to cast as my husband in my short film called Gilmore. I haven't told you this. I am currently casting four different characters in my short film. So, I am like keeping an eye out this weekend for that. So, I'm looking for mostly like Mexican people. They're going to be portraying my family and my family is Mexican. So, I want everybody to reflect my story. I'm so excited that I might have just I asked him if he could send me his real and then I'm going to share the script with him to make sure it's something that he wants to do. I arrived a little late to the sound bath and I don't want to interrupt. So I'll wait then if it already started. >> This is Billy. So we met on set for Blocking a feature film last fall and I had so much fun and your energy is infectious. I think you're super sweet and so hardworking and you're like you're like this on set. >> Also do a lot of location stuff. So we're doing a lot of location >> like scouting or >> No, actually we're doing a lot with um Oakland Hills campus and turning that that former girls Catholic school into a movie set here in the Bay Area. It's got all condensed locations >> so that then you can rent it out or >> unrestricted permits, 24-hour security, and you got like bolabs, churches, basketball courts, you got hospital wings, it's all here in the Bay Area and views every day, and it's just it's all right there. >> Well, if you guys need an amazing production designer, he's really great and he's available in the Bay Area or plus you can travel if you got a lot of money. >> I'll travel. Um, but thank you so much, Billy. I'm excited to be able to meet you. >> Yeah. Thank you for anybody who listened and let's make some magic here. We're doing it in the Bay Area. We're being brave and uh we're going for our dreams. So, >> here at Brave Maker year 8, >> welcome once again to the Brave Maker Film Festival. Leticia Williams is an EMDR trained trauma therapist specializing in trauma recovery, workplace wellness, generational trauma, and the unique mental challenges experienced by high performing professionals, creatives, and filmmakers. Director, occupational therapist, certified life coach, and creator of the Becoming You Method. Following profound personal breakdown that became a life-changing breakthrough, Retika dedicated her career to helping others reconnect with their purpose, resilience, and authenticelves. Our next panelist is a Marine combat veteran, a firefighter, a recording artist, a filmmaker, and a passionate advocate for veterans and first responders. >> It is hard because there's a lot of praise and reward that comes with looking like you have given up everything in order to produce something wonderful, right? But you have to know the edges of your limits. And I use the word healthy and unhealthy because good or bad does not really describe should I be doing it, shouldn't I be doing it, this is bad. But we I like to help folks think of like what's the healthiest for me at this time. And there's a difference between um like, you know, I want to test something out. I I do want to push my limits. If you have the capacity, right? If you are not taking great care of yourself, if you're isolating, if you're using substances more than normal, if you are um not sleeping, and if you have negative internal self-t talk, those may be signs that it's not a good idea to push those limits. If you are curious of like, oh, I want to try this new project. there's a role I haven't done before or there's a challenging producer that I know will, you know, be great for my resume and I have the capacity to expand my skill set, then it might be a good go, but you have to create those terms. >> Thank you, Brad Film Festival, for creating spaces where honest conversations like this can happen. If there's one thing I hope you leave from today, it is this. You are far more valuable than your next audition or your next film or your next funding round or your next screen play. You are perfect just the way you are. You are enough because you matter. Please keep making meaningful and beautiful art, but don't forget to invest in the artist creating it. And and finally, if you are struggling, reach out. Call or text 988, text CNQR to 741741, the crisis text line. Don't keep silent. Talk to people who love you and tell you the truth. >> For the audience members who don't know your story, let's just start with it. I highly recommend you go watch the trailer for Kevin's latest doc called Deathbridge about the almost centurylong fight to get nuts on the Golden Gate Bridge. Now, a small break to chat with filmmakers before hearing from Christine Swanson, who's a TV director, among so many other artistic things. the 2026 Vanguard honore. So I'm saying let's get to nowhere. Let's get to nowhere. Have a seat. >> I've worked on a lot of sets like most of them mine, a lot of them, you know, networks, studios, um where I'm I'm a hired gun. The thing that nobody told me they had to learn the hard way was really set politics. We don't really learn that as independent filmmakers because we're like, "Oh, it's my movie. I'm the boss." Right? When you're hired to be on a set, you're a hired gun. You're a work for hire. So, you're not always the boss. In fact, on TV shows, the showrunner is the boss, >> right? >> And I often say like if a director passed out >> on a TV show, they would drag your body to the side, [laughter] the AD and a DP will step over it and keep moving cuz time is money. So that's how invaluable you are um on like a television production because uh TV is a writer's medium, film making is a director's medium, theater is an actor medium. You have to know what you are. Now people will say, "Well, writers write theater." Yeah, but when that actor's on the stage, they're going to do whatever they want. [laughter] >> No matter what the writer's saying in the back, like no. So just to know where you are so you can figure out what tools am I going to employ. >> So if you are new to a film festival experience we are showing films and then we are talking with the creators and the makers. So we'll watch these films all in a row and then we will invite them to come probably be a little more casual because there'll probably be a lot of us. Uh we'll sit here on the edge of the stage and just chat. Let's get ready and go to the red carpet event at the Fox Theater for the opening night premiere. We are inside of the Fox Theater uh like entry area and the red carpet starting. People are lining up. We have Getty Images here and a more red carpet over here. But I'm being assigned to go over here because there's just a lot of media this year and they want to like separate people cuz it's kind of crowded. Okay, I think what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna start grabbing Hi. I'm just gonna start grabbing people from the line so we can get started. >> Hi, this is Tayhon Davis >> and this is Art Spell and we're both representing a movie called Mr. Advocate. I'm one of the actors who plays a parent in the feature films. >> I was one of the actors. I also gapped the film. >> Oh wow. You were an actor and a gaffer. >> Yes. >> I know Arch because we took an acting class together last year. We were in a film together here. These are another two guys from the bay that you can hire for your films. I got to watch your film earlier today. >> Oh, thank you. I was a the writer and co-director of Clean Slate. I also edited the film as well. My name is Damian Orpiston and my film is called Snug. >> And what is Snug, like a bug on a rug, about? [laughter] >> Snug is about a anxious little guy named Snail who has trouble sleeping. So, he travels through the image of a Polaroid picture to uh get comfort from the image of his partner. >> It's about a little boy who's 8 years old named Michelle and his best friend Henry who's a snail. And they have an adventure together and they they're in Paris. And so there's a mainly English, little bit of French, and they have an adventure that they didn't plan on. How did you guys find each other as like collaborators? >> I met Gabrielle at an acting class. Actually, >> that's what I always tell actors. I tell them take as many different kinds of acting classes as possible because you're going to learn what you like, what you don't like, and you're also going to find a lot of friends. >> Hi. >> I have two films, Honey Bunny and Kryptonite. It's a love story with a lot of different things going on about a um African-American singer and a deaf uh Caucasian man who are in love. And then we also have Honey Bunny which is a documentary. It's the relationship we all wish we had and >> like with a loved one or >> it's it's it's a documentary and it's uh 16 years and they have to both have Down syndrome but I tell you it's family. The two films that are out we made through the disability film challenge uh which is an amazing um uh the Easter Seal disability film challenge uh created by Nick Dicki. So it's really it's really and that's when I got into the producing and now we're working on several other projects were exciting. My film this year is Lur Saturday morning and it's about a woman who murders her husband and then goes looking for her former therapist. >> Paper is about um two sisters. One is a strange um she's in to a promiscuous work. So a young in promiscuous work like she's a worker, you know, hotel stuff. a lady of the night. >> Yeah, lady of the night. And her younger sister tracks her down and finds her just to try to reconnect. So, she actually books uh as one of her clients so she can have it. It's for an hour and that's why >> paid for. It's like, hey, it's paid for. So, we're going to have the talk. You're going to reconnect. I feel like I don't think we've met. >> I'm with a B. >> B L G I C Ahika. Um, I'm an actor and a content creator and I have a YouTube channel where I talk all about acting, take them on set with me, take them to film festivals with me and it's because I want to encourage them to go to film festivals. >> Yeah, 100%. >> You're an actor. Yes. >> So, what are you doing at the fest this year? >> So, I'm so honored to be here at the Brave Maker Film Festival. First, I want to say Tony is amazing. >> Yes. >> Um, I'm here with I think three different projects. The first one is a feature film called Party USA. The second feature is called Mismatched, which is a comedy. A third is called Just a Bagel, which is going to premiere at the Shorts program. And then I don't know if I can talk about this. I think there's a secret screening tonight. >> Oh, yes. >> And I'm also in that film. >> I get that, too. >> You Oh. >> Um, if you >> Wait, so Coaster Coaster is Oh my god. >> I know. So, so big up. Thank you, Brave Maker. This is amazing. Everyone's been great. Positive energy. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you, guys. Hey, Brave Maker. Gabriel here and I I don't even know if we met but we were on set together um for a perfect Perfectly Normal Workplace which is going to be screening uh this weekend. Do you do anything else in film making other than DP? >> Yes, I'm a sound I'm a location sound mixer. I've been doing film for almost 18 years. I'm originally from Colombia. I had a nice career as a location sound guy in Colombia for 15 years and I moved here to United States three years ago and like life be surprising me doing camera lighting so many different things. >> Are you in the Bay Area? >> Yes, I'm in Santa Cruz, California. >> Santa Cruz. It's beautiful over there. >> It's a beautiful over there. So exciting working with so many people. This is a great film festival. It's a great opportunity to make contacts to do networking because this is what it's about. like you you can be very talented. You can have all the skills, you can have all the equipment, but if you have the networking, you're not going to do films. >> Yeah. And it's so much more fun. Bye. And it's so much more fun to make films with people that you like. And this is where you can meet them first to see if you like their personality. >> Totally. It's about energy. >> And Gabriel Gabriel, I like your personality. >> Oh, thank you so much. >> I am Solena Fas >> and I'm Boyd Morrison >> and we are representing the Chronicles. >> And is there any actor here that's in your film? >> There's an amazing actor named Rodriguez. Oh my god, it's all of us here. >> I'm John Preston and I was here to speak for the mental health. >> I was there. It was so inspirational and like tactical things that we can use. >> Yeah. >> I loved it. >> Yeah. I mean, the whole crew was amazing, weren't they? They were unbelievable. >> Yes. The film itself is called Carry the Weight. For many years, I've been an advocate for veteran first responder suicide. I'm personally a combat veteran. So, it's me ultimately taking that journey to a physical place to show the world what it looks like to lose someone to suicide. And I put a pack on my back. Uh I walked the state of California and then 3 years later, we walked from South Carolina to Ohio. I I think that the medicine that it'll create from what we've done is it's going to be special. >> Yeah. story of a relationship between a philosophy professor and her teaching assistant. And this is against the backdrop of me too and tight tightening title n rules at universities where any kind of imbalance of power as you would have for her is trying to resist this attraction because she believes in the rules and it's unethical. >> Yeah. >> So it's kind of the struggle between heart and mind. BTS. >> Oh, yes. >> Okay. >> I love a supported friend. Thank you, Phillip. >> It's about a young woman who's trying to cover her shift at a party store and she snaps and makes a deadly mistake and everything spirals out of control into red, white, and blue collared chaos. >> So, hence the outfit, >> hence the outfit, you know, hence the jacket, you know. >> And what genre is your film? >> It's a noir comedy is the way I would phrase it. It's a noir comedy. It's uh it's has drama, some f some tragedy, but it's kind of influenced by dark comedies and noir. Kind of think of uh if the Cohen brothers made clerks, but set it in a fireworks store in the south. >> What are all of the things that you like to do in film making? >> Love editing. I love writing. I love directing. Uh I I love organizing all the things of production like working out the schedule, trying to getting like building the team out, you know, like like the casting process is so much fun. It's just hiring the right people to play the parts, you know? >> And then on set, it's so freaking fun, right? After you see everybody come together. >> Well, look, that's the beauty of it. It's like, as a director on set, all you It's You're the You're just the vibe setter, right? >> Yes. Exactly. What do you do to set the vibe? >> I just, you know, somebody comes up to me and says, "The world's about to blow up, Jared. How do we fix it?" And I'm like, "It's fine. We'll figure it out. We'll get the, you know, they're going to get uh this out and we'll figure it out. We're It's going to be okay. >> It's We're making a movie. Nobody's going to die. It's not rocket science. >> Dang. I think I'm going to have to travel to Atlanta. I want to be on your side. It sounds [laughter] like a good time. >> I think it is. I think it is. I try to keep it all fun and you know cuz otherwise what are we doing? You know, it's >> exactly. >> Nobody's really making that much money on uh small microbudget features or shorts or anything. So, >> we're losing money. >> You're losing money. So, there's no excuse to like not make it a fun and enjoyable experience for everybody. I animate, direct, edit. I can do sound design, sound recording. Um, and I want to get into cinematography. I'm really good at storyboarding. So, >> okay. Do you exclusively act? >> I'm an actor mainly, but u right now I'm working on a project with other people that I met in the same class, the acting class. So, that's going to be a vertical project that we're working on. So, or a little bit of like producing and directing and and editing, like we're doing a little bit of everything. So yeah, anything collaborative I I love. >> I'd done everything on my own uh to start. >> Wow. >> I had seen a lot of the listings uh for, you know, leads and projects and it was always the same descriptions and none of those descriptions matched me. So I kind of took it upon myself to say like, "All right, well, if you have the limited uh vision uh and you can't see me as a lead, I'm going to show you >> can do." >> Yeah. Yeah, my start was a lot of creating my own content and creating my own um short film, you know, setting up a tripod and just doing the scenes. Exactly. >> Like this. >> Yeah. Tripod, audio, find the light. And uh you have yourself a you have yourself a a scene. >> Yeah. >> And what was your role in this film? >> Um I wrote it, I produced it, I directed in it, I edited it, but I had a DP who doubled as a gaffer. My wife and my mom brought food. So I labeled him as a crafty. So I was like, we got we got a full crew. And then my PA also held the boom mic. >> I feel like this is such a great place to meet multi- highenance, you know. Well, it was so nice to meet you. I hope we can chat more at parties, events >> for sure. Yeah, we might collab on something and then we could be crew for each other. >> I would love to. What are you from the Bay? Like >> Sacramento. >> Perfect. >> I just come to connect with people. I mean, it's just really nice to like have a thing you're proud of and then show it and see what people think. I mean, it's very simple, but >> it's quiet. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I love seeing the people who are behind the film that you might never assume they look the way they do. And it's just an opportunity to kind of get a better picture of what the creative process is like. >> And I went to about 35. So I >> Okay, you are a wealth of knowledge then. Sedona International Film Festival. I've also been to Newport Beach five times. They're lovely. Um, a little more glitzy, you know, big parties, >> big budget, >> big budget, big parties. Everybody gets all dressed up. I premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and there's nothing but good things to say about that. It's also much glitzier than most festivals, but also there are smaller ones like Bufort. Buford Uh, South Carolina. Oh, >> it's a lovely smaller festival, but really, really good for filmmakers, for networking. Palm Springs Shortfest I've been in. And of course, that's that's a big deal. Again, along the smaller ones, Breen Ridge, Colorado, Sax Town, >> Sacramento, excellent. LA International Children's Film Festival, San Francisco, >> the San Francisco one. Yeah, >> the San Francisco Children's. No, it's Bash or >> Yes, I have heard of it. >> Also, there was one in Valo that we went to. It It was very good. Um the woman who organizes it, um she holds it in a like a landmark building and it was really good. I'm heading into the theater and if you happen to be watching this and you weren't in the line to be interviewed by me, I'm so sorry. Um I had to come into the theater. The line was just too long and I just need to come in. But look it, we're in the Fox Theater. I didn't know you could see the audience from back here. >> So, we are all waiting cuz I am going to go on stage actually and say something. You open your program, you will see our honores this year. Our brave maker journalistic impact honor Philip Andre Bautello Brave Makers luminary actor honore. You will see there [applause] in four different films at Brave Maker Film Festival this year. Priscilla Lamb, our director of community engagement, is presenting their honors. Christine Swanson. She's our Vanguard honore this [applause] year. Squint, are you here? Christopher, photographer, documentary filmmaker, and this year, Brave Makers culture. She is the Brave Maker 2026 legend honore and it's Miss Loretta Divine. the clock for her career retrospective and I put together a 7minute clip of your work and turn those phones off and enjoy magic magical bridge kind of time. [applause] >> So happy to be here. My name is Annette King. I'm the producer and director of magical bridge kind by design and so happy to be here with our team spicer films team and uh our creative producer and some of the folks in the film. We tend to focus on stories that are about people bringing maybe changing their pain to their purpose and solving problems not just for themselves but for their broader community. and you are the just emblematic of that and we're just so honored to be able to tell that >> I never wanted to make a movie about epilepsy. That was not on my list. My film prior to the Under the Light Short was a Bernie Sanders action and thriller where I played Bernie Sanders and that's it didn't show that [laughter] but that's where my head was at and I loved that. I loved keeping that part of my life very separate. One in 10 people have a seizure at some point. >> And yet the only the point of reference that we have for people who have epilepsy is what we see in hospital shows and in horror movies. And I really I believe that that's the only reason that there isn't a stig there's a stigma to epilepsy. And in getting to know my community, not straight white guys, but but people living with epilepsy, I came to realize that most of their problems, for for most of them, not all of them, but for most of them, most of their problems had nothing to do with seizures. It had to do with living in a world that was entirely unwilling to include them. I've already been at this film festival for 12 hours today and now it's [music] time for the opening night gala at Konasuk and Timber and Salt. There was some music [music] at Konasukat and Timber and Salt was packed probably because that's where the alcoholic beverages are at. But I am going to leave this mingling fun party to go see the secret screening because I'm in it. So many people I know are in it and it is at 9:45 back at the Fox Theater. Every single question is optional. There's a five. There's a 10. >> That's it for day two. But there are five days total and I am attending every single day of this festival and giving you a vlog for each day. I [music] hope that you get a glimpse of what going to the Bravemaker Film Festival is like or going to film festival in general because I [music] think you can have such an amazing experience if you really put yourself out There.