Orlando Filmmaker, Mickie Garcia, Answers 15 Questions On Her Love For Film
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Orlando Filmmaker, Mickie Garcia, Answers 15 Questions On Her Love For Film

Film can be a powerful tool for change.

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Orlando Filmmaker, Mickie Garcia, Answers 15 Questions On Her Love For Film
Joe Ridley

Film is a funny thing. Like other forms of art, it's something many people casually enjoy. Sometimes there's nothing better than a night out at the theater with friends, or a lazy morning watching movies at home. But film can be much more than entertainment.

For Orlando filmmaker Mickie Garcia, film is a passion. It's a craft and a career. Film can be used to tell stories that need to be heard, stories that call for social change and justice. Film can be a way to share messages around the world, all the while bringing people together.

I asked Mickie some questions about her background in film, her thoughts on the industry, and the projects to which she currently belongs. He are 14 questions and answers that tell her story. Enjoy!

1. How did you get first get interested in film?

To be honest, I’ve always loved movies, but I never planned on becoming a filmmaker. Those same words are probably said by most filmmakers when asked, but I think they hold true for all of us. Looking back on it now, it seems like an obvious path, but in some ways it was really just a lot of little things that snowballed over time. Films were always something I enjoyed, but it never occurred to me that it was an actual career path that a person in real life could get into, much less someone like me who knew nothing about cameras or art.

But I always knew I loved movies. I loved movies more than most things. They seemed to communicate emotions and ideas in inexplicable ways that I couldn’t get from other mediums. On a whim I got into Television Production in high school and it was like something in me clicked. Sure, we were making goofy class projects and school news reports, but it opened up a door to a completely different plane of creativity than I had ever once considered. When it came time to start applying to colleges I pulled a 180 from what I’d been planning my entire life—culinary school—and decided I’d be going to film school. I didn’t really know what I’d do once I got there, but I knew that I wanted to try. My parents were completely taken aback to say the least.

2. What was it like pursuing a film degree in college?

I went into UCF’s Cinema Studies program not really knowing anything about film or having any real career goals, so there was definitely a huge learning curve. My plan up until that point had been “get into a school”, and now that I was there I had to figure out what it was that I actually wanted. I started pursuing every avenue I could find -- camera workshops, meet and greets, clubs, anything remotely related to movies that was available to me.

After a while I landed a job as a PA on a grad student’s thesis film—my first real film project. People always say networking is crazy important and I’ve found that to be incredibly true. All of the films that I’ve worked on since that first project have been with people who have either worked with me on a different project and asked me to work on theirs, or have been jobs I’ve gotten through referrals.

3. What are your main areas of interest with film?

The great thing about not being particularly talented in one area over any other is that it encourages me to learn as much as I possibly can in every area that I can. My personal interests lean more towards the art department--costuming and production design—but at some point I fell into production management—producing—and I enjoy that quite a lot as well.

5. What are some notable projects you’ve worked on?

The first feature I worked on was “Treasure,” which won the Central Florida Film Festival’s “Best Florida Project” in 2017. More recently I’m producing “The Further Adventures of Walt’s Frozen Head” which was partially filmed inside of Disney (unbeknownst to the bigwigs) and is currently being entered into festivals.

6. What have you learned about film as a craft?

From the outside, film looks like this incredibly logical process: you make a plan, you get everyone together to execute the plan, everything comes together and BOOM you’ve got a movie!

In reality it’s not like this at all. It’s incredibly difficult every step of the way and often feels like opting to light yourself on fire while herding cats, but when you finally get that first cut of the film—there’s no feeling quite like seeing all of that hard work come together on a big screen.

7. How do you see yourself developing as a filmmaker?

Ideally I’d like to have the chance to work extensively in every department to become as well versed as I possibly can, but beyond that it’s hard to say. I don’t want to close off any doors for myself; I feel like artists are encouraged to pigeonhole themselves enough as it is. I’d like to challenge myself as an artist and really push myself to create things that haven’t been tried before, and I’ll be happy to do so in whatever way it happens

8. What is the documentary you’re currently working on?

The documentary is called "Survivor in White." It follows a Kurdish conflict photographer named Seivan Salim as she continues working on her photo-series featuring Yezidi women who have escaped attempted genocide and a campaign of weaponized rape by ISIS.

The Yezidis are an ethnic and religious minority in Iraqi Kurdistan, and in 2014, ISIS invaded the Sinjar region with the goal of eradicating the entire population. They murdered thousands of people and enslaved thousands more girls and women. Seivan works with the women who have managed to escape, many of whom were subjected to sexual assault on a daily basis.

She photographs them wearing a traditional Yezidi bridal dress, helping them to see themselves as innocent and pure despite what they might feel after going through such a traumatic experience.

9. What is your role? How did you get started?

I’m an associate producer, which essentially means I’m helping our director and producer organize the logistics of getting the film made, helping find funding, doing promotional outreach, etc. I came onto the project almost by happenstance. I was working for a friend of the director in a completely non-film related capacity and, knowing that I was ultimately pursuing film for my career, he introduced us to each other and we hit it off from there.

10. Where do you want the project to go?

The dream scenario for me is that this film is known globally. That’s the goal for any filmmaker on paper, but this project means so much to me and the crew, and even more so for the women who are sharing their stories with us. It carries the weight of trying to hold ISIS accountable for the atrocities they’ve committed and attempting to get the Yezidi refugees the resources they need beyond just food and water. We often forget the mental impact war has on the civilians caught in the crossfire and these women are lacking the resources to help them heal mentally and emotionally from the attacks they survived.

11. What do you want people to know about the project?

That this is still happening. ISIS kidnapped these women and girls in 2014 and while some have escaped, others are still being held captive 4 years later, and it’s like the world has forgotten about them by choice. Their families haven’t forgotten and neither will we.

(You can follow the Facebook page for the film here, and check out the Indiegogo campaign here. Consider making a donation and sharing with your friends!)

12. What is the women-in-film group that you’re currently a part of?

It’s called Central Florida Women Behind the Lens, and it’s open to all female-identifying filmmakers as a space to share our experiences, knowledge, and resources.

13. How did that get started?

Kristen, the director for “Survivor In White”, came back to Orlando from some time living in Salt Lake City which had a really great community of female filmmakers. She was looking for something similar here but not really finding it. She created the Facebook group for CFWBTL and I immediately added every female filmmaker in the area that I knew. We just kind of worked from there and now we’ve got about 50 members.

14. What directions do you want the group to go in?

It would be great to see it blossom into a permanent fixture for the community. I think we’re providing a resource that a lot of people have kind of passively wished existed but never thought had a real audience. The reality is that the audience has always existed; there’s an incredible population of amazing female artists in Orlando, it’s just that none of us knew where to find each other. But this has really closed that gap for us.

15. What do you want people to know about females in the industry?

We’re smart, we’re capable, we’re hardworking and we’re incredibly talented. Talk with us, create with us, and for God’s sake, hire us! Women bring a very different perspective and having that different outlook added can only benefit the crew and enhance what they’re able to create.


Thank you, Mickie, for your wonderful contributions to the art of cinema. I hope you continue to use your voice to empower females in the industry and across the globe. There's no stopping you now!

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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