Biography
Lela is the Founder and CEO of mamafilm, whose work centers impact curating, creative producing, distribution consulting and media literacy, for and around bold, socially conscious stories.
She began her career in marketing for studio films and entertainment publicity before transitioning to the independent exhibition space, as a co-founder of the Tallgrass Film Festival. Her continued work at regional festivals further fueled her passion for cultivating underserved audiences and advocating for the importance of film festivals and art house cinemas as essential cultural and economic drivers for within their communities.
From 2017-2022, Lela served as Executive Director of Film Festival Alliance, a trade organization championing a sustainable and inclusive ecosystem for film festivals across North America. In 2020, FFA cultivated an environment of resiliency that shepherded festivals through an unprecedented industry-wide transition, culminating in the largest gathering of independent exhibition professionals: the virtual FilmEx conference in 2021. In 2024, in her current role as Board President of Art House Convergence, she played an integral role in creating the IND/EX Conference, an in-person gathering of over 750 independent exhibition stakeholders.
In 2019, inspired by her two full time jobs: mothering and movies, she founded mamafilm. Born as a pop-up microcinema in a shipping container, mamafilm served as a Satellite Screen for the Sundance Film Festival in Kansas in 2021 & 2022, and now operates its exhibition arm as a nomadic microcinema experience.
In 2020, she co-founded rePROFilm - connecting storytellers and advocates who celebrate bodily autonomy. rePROFilm has exhibited more than 70 films, and in partnership with Peace is Loud, has granted more than $60,000 to 21 projects including features, shorts, fiction and documentaries.
As a Creative Producer, her credits include the award-winning documentary Chasing Chasing Amy (Tribeca 2023), the 2024 Academy-qualifying/Vimeo Staff Pick short Run Amok and the podcast & video series Green Tide Rising. In Spring 2024, she co-founded The Popcorn List - an annual survey of highly-enjoyed independent films without distribution.
She's participated in The Industry Academy, Brand Storytelling Certificate Program and holds a degree in the culinary arts. She's a frequent industry panelist and has been quoted in publications like the New York Times and Filmmaker Magazine. She's a member of Color Congress, Brown Girls Doc Mafia and the Documentary Producers Alliance.
