Breaktide Productions is an all women-of-color-owned film production company founded by Alex J. Bledsoe, Jalena Keane-Lee, and Reaa Puri. Our mission is to support and generate grassroots movements, ignite collective action, and promote BIPOC self-determination.

Breaktide is rooted in intersectional solidarity. As founders with varied lived experience from distinct cultural contexts, we recognize that our struggles are intertwined. Our films highlight interconnected global struggles, including environmental racism, human rights and indigenous sovereignty.

Since Breaktide’s founding in 2018, we have grown rapidly, and established a reputation as an award-winning, full-service film production company with ethics and equity at the core. Our work is known for its high production quality, and centering of BIPOC people behind the scenes and in front of the camera. Breaktide has earned awards and recognition from Sundance, SXSW, ITVS, Cannes Lions, Allied Media, and PBS, and was named to the YBCA 100 list of social changemakers in 2019.

We are now launching our first fundraising campaign! Your tax-deductible donation will be split evenly to support our three documentaries currently in development and production. Funds will be used to compensate our teams and fund key production expenses needed to complete our films. Learn more about our slate of feature documentary films below:

K For Kashmir – Directed by Reaa Puri
A filmmaker travels to her homeland of Kashmir to reconnect with her 90-year-old great grandmother. What she finds sparks a quest for answers about this contested land and her place in it.

Standing Above The Clouds – Directed by Jalena Keane-Lee
When the world’s largest telescope is set to be built on the sacred mountain, Mauna Kea, three Native Hawaiian families dedicate their lives to defending it.

Oaklead – Directed by Alex J. Bledsoe
In Oakland, California, families fight to protect their children from lead poisoning in their own homes and schools, confronting over a century of environmental racism.

DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE.

Please note donations made via credit card incur 3% fees. If that’s something you want to avoid, email [email protected] to set up a wire or bank transfer. Or checks can be sent to UnionDocs 352 Onderdonk Ave., Ridgewood NY, 11385 (please make it clear it’s for this project).

Thank you for supporting Breaktide!

About The Team

Alex J. Bledsoe’s films highlight issues of race, class and exploitative systems. Alex is currently directing OAKLEAD, which investigates Oakland’s racialized lead poisoning crisis, and is supported by Sundance, Berkeley Film Foundation and the Redford Center. She also directed Heart Race (in post production), a documentary about one man’s attempt to obtain a heart transplant while grappling with the impacts of racial inequity in Milwaukee. Previously, Alex produced Residue, a narrative feature about gentrification in D.C., which is currently streaming on Netflix.

Jalena Keane-Lee’s filmmaking explores intergenerational trauma and healing through an intersectional lens. Her film Standing Above the Clouds won best short documentary at LA Asian Pacific Film Festival and Special Jury Mention from the Center for Asian American Media, and is playing on the Criterion Collection. She has been supported by NeXt Doc, Jacob Burns Film Center, Nia Tero, CNN Films, and won Tribecca Through Her Lens 2020.

Reaa Puri’s films address sexual and state violence, as well as collective power and healing. She is a TEDX speaker and recipient of two Cannes Lion awards, the Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prize and the SFFilm Holbrooke Female Fund. Reaa is currently directing a personal documentary about Kashmir, which has been supported by SFFILM, BAVC, and UnionDocs.