When the pandemic hit, the world went into a whirlwind of chaos. Lives were lost, companies crumbled, businesses shut down, all while a young film company, located in the vast alcoves of the Midwest, sang a song of hope. This company is called Bravebird, an Indigenous and female owned video production company based in Madison, Wisconsin.
Bravebird encompasses many things: it provides a space for minorities to live out their shared experiences, supplies a creative outlet for underrepresented communities to showcase their authenticity, and amplifies marginalized voices in the film industry. The company is incredibly unique in its mission of telling more authentic stories that are definitive and help viewers “see and hear” the diverse world around them. The raw and real nature of their storytelling, which according to co-owner and founder Alex Miranda, aims to “curate an experience that fosters empathy and a sense of our shared responsibility to ourselves, to each other, and to the land,” pulls at your heartstrings, but it also represents a message.
Miranda’s first feature length film, Trace the Line, tells the story of two young artists trying to navigate themselves and the world around them through the tumultuous events of 2020. From processing the pandemic to harnessing creativity to touching upon current racial tensions facing the nation, the film blossoms between the beauty of art and the characters’ individual relationships in a climate that is racially and politically charged. Along with a transformational tale about resilience and hope, Trace the Line also functions as a visual representation of Miranda’s inner psyche retracing the chaos of the year. “It's a reflection of my own personal journey of trying to make sense of 2020,” he says.
As for the challenges the Bravebird team and other indie filmmakers have faced during the pandemic, there seems to be many. Filming in a state that ranks 49th in the nation for support of the arts, without the proper funds and expertise during a global pandemic doesn't sound too idealistic, but Miranda says that despite these setbacks, they were able to push through.
Inclusive Team
With the statistic of 51% BIPOC and 50% female, the team behind the camera and at the forefront of Trace the Line is tremendously inclusive. The Bravebird team have a lot to share with their diverse backgrounds, but they also harbor emotional and physical hardship that Miranda says sometimes stomps the effectiveness of their artistic work—whether that hindrance is slight or substantial in nature, it is more than just a tarnish in productivity, but a humane complication that brings about both complexity and essence to their innovation.
“It’s not easy to do this,” he says, “it’s extremely hard. Most days feel like an uphill battle, and some of the talent we work with have serious trauma they bear, and you can tell it’s heavy and costly on their life.” The team have more than just stories to share, they have voices they want to be heard, and although the wide spectrum of diversity that comes along with the cast and crew of Bravebird paints it as a body that is truly innovative, it also makes it beautifully, painstakingly, human. Miranda refers to his first feature film as an entity that breathes and lives, “Trace the Line is a visual prayer,” he says, “a meditation of what we went through.”
He further notes that he wants to leave space for the viewers to interpret the film as they see fit, hoping it sparks a discussion by furthering the conversation about social, political, and cultural issues through a poetic lens.
When asked about the steppingstones that helped launch the company in Madison instead of his hometown in Los Angeles, Miranda took to critiquing the lack of accurate representation of BIPOC in films produced in the Golden State. It all started when he began seeing a pattern with how he and other underrepresented communities were being portrayed on screen, as well as the roles he was landing, and repeatedly depicting, in Hollywood.
“I grew tired of feeding stereotypes and catering to white savior tropes. I began to ask myself, ‘how are my depictions of diversity and culture in film affecting society?’” After leaving acting, Miranda embarked on his journey to see if he could make a difference behind the camera in film school, and later interned as a script reader in a major Hollywood studio. As a person of color, and as a person of color who was specifically Latino, he learned why he was being typecast into the recycled “delinquent and antagonistic roles.” The sole fact that there were no places or opportunities for him to create stories that shone truth and dignity on him and his people weighed heavily on him.
He hopes Bravebird can change that by serving as a “conduit” for underrepresented voices to enter the industry, and hopefully rewire the way BIPOC are portrayed in film.
“Representation for me is simply telling the stories that haven’t been told, with nuance and complexity. It’s not just about being more inclusive of culture, but incorporating a variety of ages, backgrounds, languages, and occupations into my process. There are so many talented and creative folks who just need the opportunity and visibility. This is where we feel we can make the biggest impact. It will take more than one filmmaker or just my voice for there to be more accurate representation.”
You can learn more about Trace the Line and Bravebird here.
