Lela Meadow-Conner

Born as a microcinema in a shipping container, mamafilm now operates as a pop-up cinema. In 2021 & 2022, mamafilm served as a Satellite Screen for the Sundance Film Festival, in Kansas. The organization’s signature program – rePROFilm –  is a virtual series that connects storytellers and advocates who celebrate bodily autonomy.

Lela began her exhibition career two decades ago as a co-founder of the Tallgrass Film Festival, has worked at the Woods Hole and Bentonville Film Festivals, spent five years as the Executive Director of Film Festival Alliance, and currently serves as Board Chair of Art House Convergence, and board member of Vidiots Foundation. She is the co-founder of The Popcorn List – an annual survey of highly-enjoyed independent films without distribution.

Recent producing credits include the award-winning feature documentary Chasing Chasing Amy (Tribeca, BFI London, 2023), the 2024 Academy-qualifying/Vimeo Staff Pick narrative short Run Amok and the award-winning podcast, Feminist Foremothers. She has several projects in development including the feature-length version of Run Amok; the experimental documentary Monstrous Me, the video-first podcast series Green Tide Rising and the narrative feature The Spice Poet – with Priyanka Chopra’s Purple Pebble Pictures.

Lela has participated in The Industry Academy, (a program of Film at Lincoln Center and the Locarno Film Festival), the Brand Storytelling Certificate Program and holds a degree in the culinary arts. She’s served on film juries including AFI and the NAACP Image Awards, is a frequent panelist for industry organizations including The Gotham, SXSW and Ghetto Film School and has been quoted as a trade expert in publications including the New York Times, Filmmaker Magazine, IndieWire and Box Office Pro. She’s a proud member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia and the Documentary Producers Alliance.