From First Film to Festival Success: Jordyn Romero's Indie Filmmaker Story
That’s the great thing about filmmaking: things happen you don’t know are going to happen at the end.
-Thelma Schoonmaker
From First Film to Festival Success: Jordyn Romero's Indie Filmmaker Story
Jordyn Romero, an independent filmmaker, creates a powerful documentary “We Are Like Waves” that chronicles Sanu’s inspiring story as one of Sri Lanka’s first professional female surfers. The documentary brings significant conversations about gender roles, beauty standards, and family expectations to the male-dominated surfing world.
Romero’s filmmaking experience shows how she balances creative work with business needs. Her daily routine includes production tasks and personal time that demonstrates the commitment independent filmmaking requires. She launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to complete her latest project and proves that compelling documentary storytelling challenges societal norms to create meaningful change.
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Early Passion for Storytelling
Jordyn Romero’s connection with storytelling began in the Rocky Mountains of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her deep love for outdoor adventures shaped her early years. She spent summers floating down the Rio Grande and found her natural talent for visual narratives.
Growing up with a camera
The mountains shaped Romero’s path to filmmaking. She started capturing ski footage with friends using a GoPro Hero 4 in various outdoor locations. These amateur edits sparked her interest in visual storytelling. Her childhood in the wilderness, filled with snowboarding and mountain biking, set the stage for her future career in documentary storytelling.
First documentary attempts
A defining moment came at Chapman University when she watched John John Florence’s surf movie “View from a Blue Moon” in her dorm room. She made a bold choice to switch to the documentary program, pursuing a BFA in documentary filmmaking. She hadn’t declared her major yet, but surfing began to influence her academic work. Her yearly California trips with her mother helped her foster a deep connection to surf culture and women in surfing.
Learning from failures
The path to becoming an independent filmmaker had its share of obstacles. Romero felt lost about her purpose and direction after graduation. All the same, this time helped shape her artistic vision. She saw how few women were represented in ski films and decided to move to Southern California to chase her filmmaking dreams.
Her senior thesis film “Of the Sea,” shot in Costa Rica, became her breakthrough moment. This project let her tell Katherine’s story while exploring earth stewardship, Vietnamese refugee experiences, and eco-friendly entrepreneurship. The project’s success strengthened her dedication to creating character-driven narratives that enable viewers to connect with personal stories.
These early experiences gave Romero a steadfast dedication to taking risks and pursuing passion projects. Her background in outdoor activities gave her great insights. She tackled challenging camera work in rough surf conditions and remote locations without hesitation.
Her documentary filmmaking foundation at Chapman University opened doors to underwater cinematography. She wanted to reclaim female narratives on-screen, which helped create her unique storytelling style. Over the last several years, Romero has built a reputation for challenging norms while creating meaningful content that strikes a chord with audiences worldwide.
Making 'Of the Sea' Documentary
The story of “Of the Sea” started at a surf and brunch event in Malibu, California. Jordyn Romero met Katherine Terrell there – a former Vietnamese refugee who became an environmental activist. Katherine’s commitment to building a community of strong female surfers who protect the environment caught Romero’s eye. This story matched her filmmaking vision perfectly and aligned with her interest in breaking boundaries in female representation.
Finding the story
Romero found her path through Katherine’s remarkable story six months after graduation, during an uncertain time. The documentary shows how motherhood, sustainability, and ocean conservation come together through Katherine’s eco-friendly swimwear brand, Jeux De Vagues. The brand launched in 2017 with a catchy motto – “Hot bikinis for a hot planet” and wants to raise the bar for sustainable swimwear.
The film explores Katherine’s extraordinary life deeply. Her story begins with a five-year-old’s escape from Vietnam, crossing the Pacific Ocean by boat with her father and pregnant mother. Romero captures Katherine’s thoughts about plastic pollution, her identity as a refugee, and her hopes to create a better future for her son.
Production challenges
Romero’s team followed Katherine to Costa Rica, where she had moved her family to live more simply. This choice to tell Katherine’s story abroad became Romero’s first major international production, showcasing her ability to work in diverse outdoor locations.
The documentary shows the power of female strength, environmental activism, and surfing’s ability to change lives. “Of the Sea” goes beyond environmental awareness – it reveals how one woman’s business spirit sparked wider social change, challenging gender roles and cultural expectations.
“Of the Sea” brought Romero great success, leading to deals with big platforms like Amazon Prime, The Surfer’s Network, NowThis, and Outside TV. The film also got many Best Director and Best Film awards at festivals worldwide.
This project helped establish Romero’s unique storytelling style that focuses on character-driven narratives about womanhood, identity, and human spirit. Through Katherine’s story, Romero showed how surfing could bring people together and promote environmental protection, inspiring change in the process.
Building a Film Career
Romero graduated from Chapman University’s documentary program and quickly became an award-winning director. She specialized in brand-defining stories that entertained, inspired, and connected with audiences. Her storytelling challenged boundaries and focused on resilience, which drew major outdoor industry brands to her work.
First paid projects
Her early documentaries caught the attention of Patagonia, Toyota, and Oakley, leading to her first contracts. People loved being part of her productions because of her hands-on style and adaptability in remote locations. The North Face, Salomon, Trip Advisor, and GoPro soon joined her growing client list.
“Of the Sea,” her groundbreaking documentary, played at more than 16 festivals across 8 countries. Teton Gravity Research and Surf Girl Magazine featured her work, which led to new projects with Sierra Nevada, Billabong, and Guayaki.
Developing unique style
Her steadfast dedication to reclaiming female narratives on-screen shaped Romero’s directorial style. She wanted to increase women’s voices in the outdoor industry. Her work challenges traditional storytelling, particularly in male-dominated spaces, breaking boundaries in the process.
Her signature approach includes:
Character-driven narratives that show personal transformation
Real moments captured in challenging outdoor environments
Stories that balance commercial appeal with meaning
Underwater cinematography that adds fresh viewpoints
Creating industry connections
Working with production companies and creative agencies expanded Romero’s network. Through collaboration with Stept Studios, she created innovative documentary series about humanity’s connection with nature and community. These partnerships brought bigger projects while she kept her unique storytelling style.
“We Are Like Waves” reached The Los Angeles Times, making her an Oscar-qualifying director. This achievement substantially raised her profile and brought opportunities to direct international campaigns for major outdoor brands.
Romero balanced commercial success with passion projects that matched her vision. She worked with Jo Anna Edmison to co-direct “Queens of the Break”, showing her love for collaborative filmmaking. This mix of commercial and personal work defines her career strategy as an independent filmmaker.
Her production company creates sets where real stories come alive. She builds genuine connections with her subjects and takes time to understand their personal stories before filming begins. This approach works well for projects that need cultural awareness and emotional depth.
Romero’s influence now reaches beyond outdoor filmmaking. Outside TV, Amazon Prime, and The Surfer’s Network showcase her films. These platforms have helped spread her work throughout the documentary filmmaking community, contributing to the creation of globally resonant films.
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Festival Strategy Success
Film festivals reward careful planning and determination. Romero’s documentaries have won recognition on international platforms. She has become a respected voice in independent filmmaking, inspiring change through her work.
Choosing the right festivals
Romero’s acclaimed film “We Are Like Waves” found remarkable success through smart festival choices. The documentary got distribution through The Los Angeles Times and qualified for the 95th Academy Awards. She picked festivals that matched her storytelling themes of social change and women’s empowerment.
Her films have played in more than 20 countries worldwide and won jury and audience awards. This worldwide reach comes from picking festivals that:
Value character-driven narratives
Help emerging independent filmmakers
Deal with environmental and social justice themes
Present different viewpoints in outdoor sports
Submission process
The path from completion to festival screenings needs careful planning. Romero makes sure each film gets professional color grading, sound mixing, and scoring after reaching the rough cut stage.
Her crowdfunding approach worked well for films about social issues. “A clear mission and impact statement – getting more diverse women on waves – really connected with potential supporters and festival programmers”.
Her documentary achievements tell the story:
“Of the Sea” (2019) – Got distribution on Amazon Prime and The Surfer’s Network
“Ability” (2021) – Won multiple Best Director awards
“We Are Like Waves” (2022) – Earned Oscar qualification and Los Angeles Times distribution
“Beyond Normal” (2024) – Appeared on Outside TV and NowThis
Romero chooses venues where her work can create the most change instead of submitting to every festival. This selective approach brings consistent recognition. Her films often win Best Director and Best Film honors.
The festival circuit offers more than just exposure. It creates chances to build industry connections and find distribution partners. Romero has expanded beyond traditional outdoor film circles through smart networking at these events.
Her success shows how independent filmmakers can thrive in the festival world. Romero keeps building an impressive festival record that boosts her credibility as a director. She focuses on quality over quantity in submissions and maintains a clear vision for each project’s influence.
Impact of Female Perspective
Major U.S. film festivals have marked a historic moment as women directors have outpaced men in documentary screenings. This achievement signals a change in how the industry views female storytellers. Women now make up 45% of directors and writers in documentary filmmaking.
Unique storytelling approach
Romero’s films distinguish themselves through authentic portrayals of female athletes and adventurers. Her work “Ability” showcases this approach by highlighting Team USA Paracyclist Clara Brown’s athletic excellence rather than her limitations. “Through her story, we show what she is capable of, increasing her presence as a badass elite athlete who doesn’t let her circumstances define her”.
Female directors’ influence reaches far beyond their own projects. Women comprised 76% of writers and 50% of editors in films with at least one woman director. This shared environment promotes diverse points of view behind the camera and enriches storytelling.
Romero’s documentary “We Are Like Waves” shows her dedication to cultural sensitivity. She spent two weeks building relationships with her subjects before filming in Sri Lanka. “All I did was hang out with Sanu every day. We would go for a surf or we’d go on long walks… trying to understand what Sri Lanka is like”. This approach allowed her to authentically capture personal stories and cultural expectations.
Breaking industry barriers
Documentary filmmaking shows promising progress. Independent films now feature women in 41% of producer and director roles. This change creates space for untold stories. Romero’s production company challenges traditional narratives by:
Casting diverse women through inclusive application processes
Creating authentic voiceovers that promote empowerment themes
Increasing visibility for voices that need to be heard
She addressed cultural barriers directly in “We Are Like Waves.” “We wanted to keep it authentic… making her a part of our crew. Throughout the process we brought her into our crew meetings, making sure that we were staying true to her story”.
This inclusive approach strikes a chord beyond the screen. A Sri Lankan-American viewer in Encinitas, CA, shared how seeing her culture’s authentic representation inspired her to pursue surfing despite family expectations. Such moments confirm Romero’s dedication to authentic storytelling and cultural representation.
Numbers reveal the broader effect of women’s leadership in film. Projects with women directors show higher percentages of female writers (71% versus 14% with male directors), editors (48% versus 22%), and cinematographers (30% versus 12%). These figures show how female directors create opportunities for other women in the industry.
Romero’s work proves that compelling stories exceed traditional industry boundaries. Her films challenge social norms while respecting diverse cultures. This balanced approach has earned critical acclaim and inspired new storytellers to share their unique points of view.
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Ready to Make Your Documentary?
Jordyn Romero turned her love for storytelling into something extraordinary. She started small, capturing footage with her GoPro in the Rocky Mountains. Today, she creates authentic stories that challenge how documentaries are made. Her success as an independent filmmaker shows that audiences connect deeply with stories that bring diverse voices to light.
Her documentaries “Of the Sea” and “We Are Like Waves” showcase her talent for building real connections with her subjects. She takes time to get things right instead of rushing for quick results. This patient approach has paid off. Her work qualified for Oscar consideration and reached millions through Amazon Prime and The Los Angeles Times, solidifying her status as an Oscar-qualifying director.
The documentary world is changing, and Romero plays a big part in this evolution. Film festivals now showcase more female directors than at any point in history. This opens doors for authentic stories both in front of and behind the camera. New filmmakers look up to her approach that combines cultural awareness with smart festival strategy.
Romero keeps pushing boundaries in independent documentary filmmaking. She shows that authentic stories can reach wide audiences and create real change in society. Her globally resonant films continue to inspire change and challenge cultural expectations, making her a true pioneer in the world of documentary storytelling.
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