Today we’d like to introduce you to Yasmin Lee.
Hi Yasmin, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I knew I wanted to be a storyteller when I was about 8 years old, but I didn’t realize how possible it was, or how at home being a filmmaker felt, until I was about 14.
When I was like 14, I remember watching the indie film “Dear White People” (2014) and being blown away by the humor, characterizations, and social commentary that felt so relevant and fun. What enthralled me most was the characters’ intellect, and I’m pretty sure that film taught me the word “intellectual.” After my first viewing, I knew I wanted to create that kind of art. Art that answered hard questions, blended history with modernity, and addressed our most pressing issues in a unique tone. As I’ve gotten older and recognized my multitudes as a curator, artmaker, and community builder, I have rooted my practice as a filmmaker in whimsy, research, and letting memory enter my projects, giving them space to grow, expand, and evolve over time.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s challenging to stay connected to the truth rather than letting myths live rent-free in my head, honestly. Right now, the big machine makes it seem like there’s a finite amount of success, access, and publicity for independent creatives, especially Black women or femmes, but it’s a myth. There’s another half of the internet that invites real-life experiences and tactile things like snail mail, human-made flyers, and real human connection in pop-up third spaces.
As artists and creative entrepreneurs, we’ve had to learn this unknown landscape in real time, and I think that’s been my biggest challenge lately. Otherwise, I’ve been keeping myself grounded, knowing that as long as I’m being myself and creating work that is authentic to who I am, the ones looking for me will find me. That level of authenticity and ownership is one of the best ways to combat the negative narratives that will do their best to convince you the opportunity is for someone else rather than you.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an early-career screenwriter, film director, multimedia artist, and media curator who critiques media from a social commentary and creative standpoint. I’ve also tapped into doing film programming for the non-profit program, Film Gallery Carolina.
To give you some more color about my background, my career as a writer and filmmaker really started when I was a child and a teenager. I was published in several literary magazines throughout middle and high school. I was a student journalist who won a Southeast Emmy in 2019 for my human interest news segment about Drag Queens in Columbia and drag culture.
My artistic career began at Wofford College in South Carolina’s Upstate. At Wofford, I majored in Studio Art and minored in Film and Digital Media. I declared the Studio Art major because I never thought of myself as an artist until a professor saw me skateboarding outside the art building and recognized my name from one of their Art show submissions. For some reason, when she said, “You know you’re an artist, right?” A lot of things made sense to me.
After thinking it through, I realized art intersects with film in ways that made it too easy not to pursue both at the same time. Since then, I’ve made multimedia sculptures and collages that blend film, installation, and photo collage to create a space for audiences to engage with Black joy and queer aesthetics.
My work is usually a reflection of my intuition, generational memory from my family and culture, and lived experiences as I explore intersectionality and identity. I love incorporating folklore and romanticized visuals as much as possible and addressing intimacy and power.
I’m proud to say that Snowy Cactus Entertainment is an official LLC that I own. Snowy Cactus is the entity that houses everything I do. So anything from film community programming to artmaking, production, and writing, it’s all Snowy Cactus.
Besides launching Snowy Cactus Entertainment this year, I’ve been thinking a lot about the literacy and media literacy crisis, so I wanted to help in my own way! I created my online publication, Snowy Reviews, to tap back into my bag of editorial and critical essay writing. This has been a useful tool in my practice because it’s given me a comprehensive and repeatable research process that’s informing the development of my debut feature film. It’s in the early stages of development, but it’s coming along.
What’s next?
This past September, I hosted the world premiere screening of my latest short film, “Spirits Talk” (2026), at Wofford College’s Leonard Auditorium. This event was a case study of sorts for my film program called “Conjuring Folklore in Cinema.” “Conjuring Folklore in Cinema” is centered on my original short films and presents my filmmaking journey as an educational and cultural experience for the community. During the presentation, I discuss my journey as a filmmaker and artist and how it informed my short film trilogy, the “Talk Series.”
I’m grateful that Wofford heard my pitch and opened its doors to me. The organizations that made “Conjuring Folklore in Cinema” possible this time around were Salt Run Entertainment, Film Gallery Carolina, Dr. Dwain Pruitt, and the Wofford College Office of Civil Rights and Community Initiatives. With their support, around 50 people from the Wofford community, the local filmmaking industry, and friends and family watched my films in the same auditorium I was in for my freshman orientation in 2019. Full circle, man.
I don’t want to say excited. What’s another word…I’m motivated to see how “Spirits Talk” does in the film festival circuit. We have our festival premiere this November at the South Carolina Underground Film Festival, and we’re waiting to hear back from our other submissions.
In the future, I want to continue doing my “Conjuring Folklore in Cinema” presentation. The next iteration will adapt to the host institution or art space. Whether it’s a film studies classroom or I’m a guest lecturer at a larger screening, I want to keep creating this experience for students and creatives. If Conjuring Folklore in Cinema sounds like something your campus community would be interested in, you can request the program at your school. If you look up Snowy Reviews, by Yasmin on Substack, and find my “Through Cinema, I Enter the Spirit Realm” article, scroll down to the request form. You can also find the request form in the @spiritstalk.film Instagram bio. Every request helps make film education accessible. We love that!
Pricing:
- “Conjuring Folklore in Cinema” Program: Contact yasmin@snowycactusent.com for the honorarium rate.
- Film Directing Rate – Varying Rates with Pre-Production
- Snowy Reviews, Film Review Commission – $100 for an article. $50 for vertical video.
- Set Dresser – $350 per diem with $50 kit fee
- Art PA/Key PA – $250 per diem with $50 kit fee
Contact Info:
- Website: https://snowycactusent.substack.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snowycactus.ent/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@snowycactusent
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@snowycactusent
- Other: https://letterboxd.com/yasminthewriter/
