We were lucky to catch up with Kelly Sarri recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kelly, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am Kelly Sarri, an LA-based filmmaker originally from Greece. I started in the industry as an editor and now I am transitioning more into directing and producing. I have worked on a different variety of projects, from music videos to short films to promo videos. My latest accomplishment is that I created the first fictional digital series exclusively for IG and Tik Tok (at least in the US) called Gynarchy. This endeavor is the first step towards getting the series made into a bigger production, such as a TV show or a movie. Gynarchy is a post-apocalyptic minimalistic tale that follows a female-only colony in the near future. I chose to make it available online as a series since I haven’t seen that before happening and as a filmmaker, social media are a very useful self-distribution channel. It is in a way a case study for now because I think in the future we will see content like that on our phones more often than we think.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
It seems a simple answer but providing artists with opportunities and compensation is what they need. If you are a creative, in any profession, most probably you have worked for free a lot, even for years, so meeting your basic needs by working on a job you have chosen and like is the best reward. It provides a basic safety net for experimentation and freedom of creativity. Another important change is the offering of opportunities to artists who historically were not offered the same level of opportunities as others. The reasons are countless: the world will receive different kinds and forms of art, multi-dimensional with more depth and perspective for this world.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The relationship you build with the audience and with fellow filmmakers. There is not a more rewarding feeling than when a person who has watched a project of mine, starts a conversation with me about it. I just listen to any feedback, opinions, or comments and try to understand how much of an impact it has made on them. Additionally, when I am on set or collaborating with other creators in the pre-production or development stages, I feel the connection that built to make your art happen are invaluable. It creates this visceral feeling that what you make collectively matters.
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Image Credits
BTS photography by Elena Viklova 1. Kelly Sarri 2. AJ Lovelace, Sendy Aguilar 3. Talia Martin 4. AJ Lovelace, Cary Silvers, Sam Lucas Smith 5. Zaya May, Sendy Aguilar, Majesty Samuelu 6. Ally Pleasant (center), Adriana Serrato, Zaya May, Arianna Papalexopoulos, Sendy Aguilar, Heather Noel Aldridge 7. Talia Martin, AJ Lovelace 8. AJ Lovelace, Tammie Sellers