Meet Carrie Miller | Filmmaker & Event Organizer & Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carrie Miller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carrie, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I always felt very impacted by the films that I watched growing up. After being in school and studying gender, sexuality, queer theory and queer film – I realized that I could not only be impacted by this work, but that I could impact creatively. I remember the first time I watched a lesbian film made by a lesbian director and I realized I could connect to movies. I saw artistically what I would want to create in film and media. Because before, not much of the heteronormative imagery interested me. After that, I began creating my own lesbian films which then expanded to gender identity, queer & trans representation, documentaries, queer life stories, etc. As I was making these films I inevitably created a queer set environment that harbored safety and feeling seen. This led me to want to create more spaces like this such as queer movie night events. I founded Lavender Lens in 2023 in Athens, Ga at ATHICA, an art gallery. The event garnered attention through the local newspaper, on my college campus, and within the queer community I had found home in. This once a month event that began as a project in Athens has expanded and grown with me now, out of college, to Atlanta, Georgia. Lavender Lens is presented by a non-profit art collective, The Bakery Atlanta, where I showcase feature-length films by queer filmmakers, host queer short film nights by local filmmakers, and invite guest speakers that highlight Atlanta’s queer history and promote activism for our generation and beyond. I just love being able to surround myself with friends, creatives, and queer people (aka the best kind of people ;)).
Why not pursue this amazing conjunction of creativity, activism, and community?

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As a creative, I focus on queer stories, film, art, and history. I also challenge myself to create things out side of the box, which I see as using queer as a verb and putting it into action. This impacts my work by creating my own spaces like Lavender Lens and connecting with other LGBTQ organizations, non-profits, and creatives such as Out on Film, Queer Film Alliance, The Bakery, Charis Books and More, Touching Up Our Roots, and more. Working with other people is essential to my artistry. Getting people together and facilitating the experience really highlights my success in producing. I will continue to do anything I can to not only honor the LGBTQ people that paved the way for me as a queer artist, but to look at the present and see what the community needs. What inspires me the most is seeing people like me being creative and being acknowledged for it.

I have made around 11 short films, 3 dance films, 2 music videos, and a feature length documentary film called A Time With Isadora which is centered around the phenomenon of the “Mother of Modern Dance” Isadora Duncan which explores how one artist influences many by integrating historic dance works, new choreography, visual art, photography and filmmaking. My proudest short films are In Retrospect, which is about a queer couple who finds themselves transported into the 80s lesbian club scene through unusual circumstances after being dissatisfied with their own queer club scene in the 2020s, and Beauty Within, which is about new friends who meet in a garden and find themselves shaping their queer relationship until one of them has a confession about gender identity that is shared through a letter.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love this question because I have so many lovely places in Atlanta. I would take my bestie to Little Tart in Grant Park, where inevitably I run into friends and creatives all the time. After, I would take them to Lang Carson park where they occasionally have Trans Basketball games. This community is so vibrant and beautiful. It’s all about showing up as yourself and playing with other people who express themselves freely.
I would take my friend to Jen Chan’s which is where I work part time. It is a restaurant owned by a Lesbian couple named Jen and Emily. They have really fostered a great staff, who feel like family at this point. This restaurant not only has the best food, but immaculate vibes. As a queer person, it feels like a queertopia. I would get my friend a Gay Card there and have them try our famous ginger margaritas, fried rice, and pizza.
After, I would show them where I host Lavender Lens which is at The Supermarket ATL. I would introduce them to The Bakery ATL team who are SO creative and awesome human beings. The space they have cultivated is like a queer Alice in Wonderland. It is truly magical.
To end the day, I would take them to Charis Books and More, a feminist lesbian bookstore located next to Agnes Scott College. This bookstore has literally every book you would ever want to read. The staff there are so sweet and they encourage you to come to their free events they have weekly.
Wow, I really love Atlanta. Southern queer people really know how to cultivate safe spaces.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My biggest inspiration is Cheryl Dunye, a lesbian filmmaker famously known for the film “The Watermelon Women.” This movie is so inspiring and it marked the wave for New Queer Cinema. This new wave was crucial for the queer community because it allowed Lesbians to create amazing films, allowing their creativity to have no bounds. This era rejected heteronormative structures in film. These filmmakers, like Cheryl Dunye, used queer as a verb and tied that into their films. That will always stick with me, because I love being able to create without limits. This has encouraged me to create what I want to see in films, to be authentic, and to be inspired by my community to tell stories.

Website: https://carriemillerfilms.com

Instagram: carriemillerfilms & carriemiller__

Youtube: carriemillerfilms

Image Credits
Lyte Hill
Lindsay (retroartiste)
Margot McLaughlin