Bettie Wilde

My work is primarily motivated to show and encourage women to take control of their lives no matter how difficult that life may be. Anyone can overcome anything, anything! Filmmaking for me is raw and it's uncomfortable, it's gritty and messed up, it mirrors life and nothing about it is easy. It doesn't apologize and it lets you see inside your own mind and awaken whatever it is that might have died in you. Its an outlet as much as it is a creative expression. I got into filmmaking because I had to. It was a passion I had stopped feeding out of fear of facing my true self. I didn't wait around for someone to give me permission to make it and I didn't wait around for someone to give me the money. When doors closed I made it anyway just to prove that I could. Now that I know it's possible there's nothing really left to stop me from making more. Film is about the heart and all the ways and forms that you can touch it. My films are not focused on one person, all my characters are leads. We all have power and I like showing that. It's hardcore, it's life and whether you like it or not you get better at it even if you want to scream the whole way. You just do it and you learn. Just like in real life, you have to wake up every day and breathe and confront your demons even when the rest of the world thinks you're on top of the world Growing up in Brooklyn, New York I was faced with adversity from every angle. Born Puerto Rican Catholic, adopted by a Jewish family and raised in an Italian-Irish neighborhood in the '70s and '80s brought a lot of challenges, to say the least. A poor girl raised by an affluent family I should have felt like I was living the life of Annie, but in dark contrast, it was like Alice in Wonderland on acid. I was forced to be a fighter, and now I fight, for myself and for others.