Rural Women [make] Films
Women’s stories from ‘flyover’ country
Kristen “Kiki” Bush talks about THE GAME CAMERA on High Plains Public Radio
THE GAME CAMERA will be screening at film festivals in 2025
Narrative Films by women in Rural areas
Why rural, why women?
Our films feature stories about rural women, highlight oft overlooked landscapes, and employ primarily female crews in middle America.
Yep, we’re thrilled about BARBIE, but there’s more work to do.
Onscreen, women’s roles decrease drastically after they turn 30…whereas male roles peak at 45. And, what’s more, the percentage of women in their 40s onscreen went down by 6% from 2015 to 2022. In 2022, women comprised only 24% of directors, writers, producers, editors and cinematographers…down 1% from 2021. Women didn’t fare much better in other roles, comprising only 19% of writers, 25% of executive producers, and 31% of producers.
[Statistics from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University]
Why Rural stories?
While we’ve lived and worked in New York and Chicago, LA and London, Berlin and Tbilisi, we keep returning to dirt roads and wind-swept little towns that shaped us. Many rural folks don’t see their actual lives represented on camera; instead hackneyed stereotypical characters and divisive political themes dominate the Middle America film tropes. Art is made in the middle of the country, too.
Confounding this underrepresentation is the fact that Kansas has no tax incentives. Kiki is working with GROW KANSAS FILM to change that.
Got a script?
If you’ve written a script you’d think we’d like, send it our way (through the contact form below). Although we mostly interested in womens’ stories from the underpopulated corners of middle America, we are not limited to that.
meet us
Emily Railsback & Kristen “Kiki” Bush
Emily Railsback, co-owner of Burnt Sugar Productions, is a film director, producer and screenwriter based in Arkansas. Since giving birth to her daughter, Emily’s films have shifted more intentionally towards feminism and motherhood. Her style often blends narrative with documentary techniques, as seen in her improvised feature film AMERICAN PARENT (“Best of the Fest” BFI Flare, 2023). Her filmography also includes OUR BLOOD IS WINE (Berlinale International Film Festival, 2018 – Documentary Feature); FEAR NOT (“Best Kansas Short Film” – Tallgrass Film Festival, 2020); WARBABY (Kansas City Film Fest, 2015), music video “GAMS” (Austin Music Video Festival, 2018) and many other short films.
Railsback is co-writer and director on the comedy film ROADTRIP TO THE TOTALITY ZONE, scheduled to film in Arkansas during the 2024 Eclipse.
Railsback previously taught film production at Columbia College Chicago and is now an assistant professor at the University of Central Arkansas.
Kristen Bush (who also goes by her childhood nickname, “Kiki”) is a native Kansan. As an actor, she has appeared in numerous films and tv shows including PATERNO, LIBERAL ARTS, SYNECDOCHE NY, THE AFFAIR, SUITS, THE GOOD WIFE, LAW & ORDER:SVU, as well as onstage at The Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and The Roundabout in New York, as well as The Goodman in Chicago. She has worked with Academy Award-winning film directors Barry Levinson and Charlie Kaufman, Tony-winning directors Sam Gold and James Lapine, and has acted with both the Kevins Kline and Bacon.
She trained at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Bush co-wrote THE GAME CAMERA with husband and fellow Kansan, Rolf Potts (partially based on real events that happened on their rural Kansas ranch) to capture the under-represented beauty of the prairie on film. They live with Kiwi the Kunekune pig and Kippy the mini horse (and co-lead) of THE GAME CAMERA.
Railsback and Bush met when they lived in rural Kansas as kids and reconnected as professionals in Chicago. THE GAME CAMERA marks their third film together.
Contact Form
All photos by Shane Clark.