HERStory: Emilia Mello, producer and filmmaker
Welcome to HERStory, highlighting the many inspiring clients from DevelopHER designs. Here, founder and lead developer, Jess Tatham, talks career, life and more with women you definitely want to know more about. This week, we’re chatting with producer and director, Emilia Mello, who hired DevelopHER to create the Encyclopedia of Imaginary Places.
Part of the fun of being a web developer is the vast variety of clients I’m lucky to work with. Many of the impressive women I partner with have fascinating stories—hence the name of this column!—but also, impressive talents. When I first started chatting with Brazilian Emilia Mello, an award-winning producer
JT: What inspired you to launch your company?
EM: I had been partnering with other production companies to bring American and European productions to Brazil. I wanted to be able to offer production services that were nimble, flexible, culturally respectful, and environmentally sound. I realized I was developing a way of working that was different than other production companies, and I desired a way to share that more easily. I also needed an umbrella for my own projects. I had been left in the lurch a couple of times, and realized I could do what I had been waiting for others to do for me.
JT: What was the greatest hurdle you faced getting started as a female entrepreneur?
EM: Once I made the decision to found the company, understanding the vision and how I wanted the company to function, and setting up the nuts and bolts, it was quite easy. The hard part was getting to that place of understanding that I could go it on my own—that 14 years as a producer was enough—and that I could receive credit for what I was already doing. I had to understand I really could be my own best champion.
JT: What are your biggest hopes for your website? For your brand?
EM: My hope is that both through my own work, as a director, and through the work that I help others make, as a producer, that Encyclopedia of Imaginary Places helps to expand our understanding of the world and bring people closer together.
JT: What did you learn through the process?
EM: I learned that the only way forward is to take deep breath and to keep a laser-focus on the work.
JT: Who inspires you?
EM: Dian Fossey, Simone Weil, and Hypatia of Egypt are three women I think of often. All had strongly held beliefs and passions that they pursued by any means possible. I am also inspired by the Beats, Djuna Barnes, Henry Miller, DH Lawrence, William Faulkner, Leo Tolstoy, Roberto Calasso, Joseph Conrad, VS Naipaul, Bruegel the Elder, and by filmmakers like Maya Deren, Agnes Varda, Wim Wenders, Roberto Minervini, and Giancarlo Rossi. I believe art and ascribed meaning can change the world. I am inspired by young women on the internet who are breaking down misogyny and rape culture one meme at a time. At this very moment, I am inspired by Nicki Minaj, who just dropped Queen and Barbie Dreams.
JT: What are you greatest goals for the next few months?
EM: My goals are to finish my first feature documentary, No Kings. It is about a tomboy who lives in a traditional fishing village in Brazil and the various characters and context that populate her world. I need to raise $25K in the next two months. We will then finish sound and picture by the end of the year. I have been working on the movie for seven years—mostly on my own—so that will be the culmination of a lot of work. I have been hired to work on another feature documentary about a student uprising. The kids are so inspiring and wonderful to be around. I feel very lucky to do what I do.
JT: What advice would you give to aspiring producers and directors, or any female entrepreneur?
EM: Follow what inspires you. True inspiration and passion for what you do are priceless resources that will be recognized by others who contain the same. What you delve into becomes your expertise and your strength. Support, and ask for support from, everyone. And keep on knocking at the door …eventually they will let you in.
