ABOUT FOUNDER LARA DALE
Lara Dale is a Stage Actress, Activist, Foley Artist and Documentary Filmmaker. Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and raised in a large bohemian arts family in Corrales and Albuquerque, she trained in classical music, theater and dance from an early age, before moving to New York City to study acting, filmmaking and performance art.
Lara is also a survivor of severe sexual harassment that took place on an Anasazi Ruin in Northern New Mexico. After leaving New York City in 1989, she landed a coveted speaking part with name actors in a Hollywood sci-fi thriller shot in various remote locations in and around Santa Fe. At first she was excited as it meant she would finally get her S.A.G. Card and be able to move to Los Angeles in order to pursue a professional career in film and television.
Under increasing pressure to perform a nude scene that wasn’t in the script, she sought to negotiate with the director who made it clear that he intended to force her to comply. When she tried to leave the set, she was chased around the mesa by the entire tech crew, who then barricaded the exit. Barely able to escape down a narrow dirt road with a 200' foot cliff drop, she managed to break free, but was harassed, intimidated and blacklisted by the film industry and eventually had to leave New Mexico.
After many years living in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, Lara returned to New Mexico in 2006 and became involved in the film industry renaissance. While exploring the different aspects of independent film, she apprenticed with the Emmy Award winning Foley Artist Ellen Heuer of Wildfire Post from 2009 until 2013, when she opened FootVox Studio. In light of the #metoo movement and the RUST tragedy, she is also working tirelessly to create foundational reforms and protections for vulnerable talent and crew shooting on remote locations. Her harrowing experience is featured in the pioneering documentary "Brainwashed: Sex, Camera, Power" by the famed feminist and filmmaker Nina Menkes, which premiered at Sundance on January 22, 2022, and made the IMDB Top Ten Best Documentaries of 2022 List.
