Bioluminescent Films

Website: bioluminescentfilms.com
Budget Size: 50 to 100K
Region: Northwest
County: King
Artistic Focus Area: Film & Media/Music
Community Accelerator Grant Award: $25,000 in 2024
Primary Impact Category: The Future
Mission Statement: Bioluminescent Films is a film collective with a focus on Women, Non-binary, LGBTQIA2+ individuals and our allies; we make films that are rooted in telling stories relevant to our collective lived experiences, and aim to support and uplift others who share our values. Our production model prioritizes healthier on set experiences among its crew and cast alike by creating work from a place of holistic creative modalities. With a focus on deconstructing the patriarchal systems in the film industry, Bioluminescent Films is consistently working to cultivate safer spaces, and more impactful vehicles to change the world through art and cinema by giving voice to those who need it most.

A group of Seattleites, dressed all in black, gathers on the street. Before entering an underground movie theater, each is handed a small scroll containing secret instructions. If you didn’t know better, you would think they were there for some kind of mysterious ritual.

You would be right.

Bioluminescent Films is currently seeking distribution for its first feature film, She the Creator, and hosts pop-up screenings whenever the stars happen to align. Those showings invariably sell out immediately. “The way it’s snowballed has just been so incredibly surprising,” says director and Bioluminescent founder Ettie Wahl. Filmed entirely in Washington State with local actors and crew who identified primarily as women, nonbinary, and queer – “I think 95% of us were femmes and thems,” Ettie laughs – She the Creator is an emotional and deeply personal piece based on a short story Ettie’s mother wrote at 23 while incarcerated with a life sentence. “It’s a cautionary tale in some ways,” Ettie says, “But to me it’s a story of resilience about how art can find its way through time and structures of oppression and still live on in this world.” Structured as a ceremonial journey through the seven stages of alchemical transmutation, She the Creator is a highly participatory viewing experience already deeply beloved by its audiences, who come head to toe in black attire ready to chant, throw things at the screen, and be together in what Ettie fondly calls “our Rocky Horror cult-adjacent way.”

The film is in many ways a thesis statement for Bioluminescent, a film collective focused on carving out a space in the industry for Pacific Northwest artists who have underrepresented stories to be told – and building new structures that allow them to succeed. “I grew up in the prison system and found my way to art as a means of survival and self-expression, but I found some of the places I was seeking out guidance and mentorship, even very small-scale indie productions, to be very toxic,” says Ettie. “The structures that exist want people to do whatever it takes to get the thing made. Experiencing the insidiousness of that culture empowered me to say ‘No. We’re going to figure this out. I don’t know how, but I’ll try to make safer and better spaces.’”

Bioluminescent’s primary interest is in reimagining the production model by prioritizing physical, mental, and personal well-being above all else. They use an MFN (Most Favored Nations) pay structure, ensuring everyone on their film sets receives the same day rate, and they take pride in offering up-and-coming filmmakers positions commensurate with their dedication and commitment, rather than their resumes or degrees.

When asked what the Community Accelerator Grant means to them, Ettie and Bioluminescent producer and collaborator Earnie Ashwood pause for a long moment. “I’m trying not to get teary-eyed right now,” says Earnie. “Earlier this year, I was in this place where I needed a sign of support to move forward. I had been saying ‘I’m not giving up,’ but it felt like the levee was breaking. When I got the call from Ettie… at that moment, I felt that if I were to do one of those trust falls, this grant was the catch.” Ettie nods her agreement: “I’ve been turned down for so many grants, and it’s so hard sometimes to be struggling when you’re trying to help others who are equally struggling or struggling even more. You’re saying ‘Come on! Please, support us! I promise there’s amazing talent here, I promise there’s amazing work to be done, just somebody please throw us a bone!’ and it’s just been year after year of rejections. This grant came at one of those dark night of the soul moments, at a time when I just wanted to give up, and it felt like someone saying, ‘Hey kid, keep going, it’s going to be okay.’”

Their grant is supporting their new project Proof Of Concept, a series of BIPOC-led music videos taking place in a shared universe and exploring shared themes. Their first season of six videos will focus on the concept of the Pacific Northwest as home. “Our artists are telling their stories of what it means to be people of color who live here: what it looks like to grow up here, be displaced and come here, reclaim their Native land and create home in this place,” says Ettie. “Musicians and artists are doing incredible world-class work here in Seattle – all we’re lacking is infrastructure that can help them break through to the larger media world.”

Bioluminescent will be putting all its Community Accelerator Grant funding towards labor costs, equipment, rentals, and design for the first Proof Of Concept music video, which will serve as a pilot for the series and, they hope, convince other entities to invest in the project. “Some big organizations have told us, ‘Once you get some serious funding, come back and talk to us,’” says Ettie. “Now we have, and now we will.”

While there are plenty of tangible uses for their funding, Ettie and Earnie are also taking this moment to weigh the intangibles. “For me,” says Earnie, “one of the most interesting things that has come out of this is getting to see what it looks like when we don’t have to scrap by, when you remove the pressure and stress of financial instability and just allow us to create. As someone who has always had to marshal all my resources to make my art, there’s a certain point where you start to wonder about your worth. To have this opportunity, to have this money come in… it’s changing our belief system.” As they look ahead to a busy few years for Bioluminescent Films – promoting She the Creator through private screenings around the world, preparing to enter pre-production for a new feature film, and planning a series of immersive, narrative-driven Proof Of Concept concerts for the live audiences that have embraced them so wholeheartedly – Ettie is still reflecting on the idea of the Pacific Northwest as home. “I could have gone to L.A. or New York to make movies,” she says, “but I wanted to stay here, because I believe that we have everything we need. The heart and energy and thought process of the work here is incredible. If we can keep laying the foundation and do it in the way that we believe is right and see is possible, we’re going to put Seattle on the global map. It’s happening already. As small as this grant may seem in the grand scheme of things, I think it could be a cornerstone of that path.”