Mikaela Bruce

Mikaela Bruce is a writer and director based in Los Angeles. She studied filmmaking at the University of Hawaii and earned a master’s in screenwriting from Carlos III University in Madrid. Spending nearly a decade in Spain, Mikaela honed her voice as a director, creating powerful and diverse short films including "Pasarea" (The Bird), addressing the human trafficking crisis in Europe and screened at the Málaga Film Festival, as well as "Hermana" (Sister), a period thriller that premiered at the Goya-qualifying Medina Film Fest. "Hermana" features editing by Pablo Revert (Klaus) and a score by Jesi Nelson (Jinn, Star Wars Biomes). Her most recent narrative short, "Not Afraid," was selected for the "Fresh Perspectives in Cinematography Grant" through the ASC and stars JaShaun St. John (Songs My Brothers Taught Me). "Not Afraid" has been showcased at several prestigious film festivals, including the Oscar-qualifying Indy Shorts and the Hawaii International Film Festival, and also received the “Indigenous Film & Culture Award” from the Windrider Institute. Currently, Mikaela is in post-production on her first documentary feature, "Communities," which details the birth of a youth movement in Burgos, Spain, at the end of the Francoist dictatorship in the early 1970s. Mikaela was selected for the 2024 Alliance of Women’s ‘Directing the Actor’ lab with Jennifer Warren as well being selected for the inaugural cohort of "Resilient Artists" program through the Brehm Center at Fuller Seminary. Mikaela serves as an educator at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center.