Kayla Briët

Kayla Briët, also known by her stage name Kaia, is an 18 year old self-taught filmmaker and musician of Native American Prairie Band Potawatomi, Chinese, and Dutch-Indonesian descent.

Her short films have taken her to the White House for the First-Ever White House Film Festival, where she was invited to meet President Barack Obama, Bill Nye, and Neil DeGrasse Tyson, as well as to NYC where one of her films was screened at the AMC Theatres Times Square for the 2014 All-American High School Film Festival. Her work has also been awarded at the MY HERO Intl. Film Festival (Santa Monica) and Intl. Student Film Festival Hollywood, and her work in science/educational media has been awarded by organizations such as ProjectEd, ACS, and FASEB.

As a multi-instrumentalist and self-taught composer, Kaia scores her own films and loves making music in styles ranging from cinematic to alternative pop.

She is constantly inspired by the beauty of culture and the journey of finding one’s own voice. Her biggest aspiration is to inspire self-worth and self-confidence in others and make a positive impact in the realm of education and the arts. - Mixed Remixed

"After you’ve met President Obama as a finalist in the inaugural White House Film Festival, what’s next?

For Kayla Briët, it’s being named the Register’s Artist of the Year for Film/Video.

Getting out there and hustling to get what she needs to pursue filmmaking “shows some crazy heart,” said Christopher Pavlick, an independent producer who won an Emmy for the documentary “Inheritance.”" - OC Register Film Artist of the Year 2014

The judges liked her skill with a camera – and her initiative.
On the Artist of the Year process: “That was my first means of exposure, speaking to people in the industry, and having their support and guidance helped me grow.”

Where is she now? Briët is attending Fullerton College, studying computer science and continuing to work on her films. “Film festivals have definitely opened up unique doors and opportunities,” Briët says. She is also producing an album of new music under her stage name, KAIA, and will perform live at the Mixed Remixed Festival in Los Angeles in June.

Best advice: “What matters most is not what equipment you use. It’s if your story has heart.” - OC Register

I spent all of Saturday at the Mixed Remixed Festival, which, in the organizers’ words, is a “cultural arts festival celebrating stories of the Mixed experience”. It’s part literary festival, part film festival, part symposium, and 100% amazing. I don’t remember how I stumbled upon it originally, but I had made a note of the date in my agenda, and when I noticed it was coming up, I looked it up again and decided to go. Am I ever glad I did!
[...]
After a reception, it was time for the Storyteller’s Prize Presentation & Live Show in the Tateuchi Democracy Forum. Three people/entities were being recognized, and in between the presentation of the awards there were various performances. First up was KAIA, the stage name of musician Kayla Briët. She sang and played guitar, keyboard, and guzheng (a Chinese zither), the latter two sometimes at the same time, and she used a loop machine, which was pretty cool. Apparently it was her first live show, and I was blown away by her talent and poise, especially since she’s only eighteen. The crowd loved her. - Eleanor Glewwe

0 to 360 with Sundance Ignite Fellow Kayla Briët. - Adobe Project 1324

Kayla Briët is currently developing VR prototypes that fuse her love of storytelling with technology at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies lab. - Adobe Project 1324

From composing music to creating films and coding websites, Adobe Creativity Scholar and Sundance Ignite Fellow Kayla Briët's passion is the fusion of different mediums to tell a story. - Adobe Project 1324

For its 25th festival screening, at Outfest in Los Angeles, 19-year-old Kayla Briët delivered a stirring mix of tribal themes, melodic delicacy and heartbeat percussion. - Hollywood Reporter

This year’s #NEXTFEST teaser was directed, scored, and animated by an all-women trio of #SundanceIgnite Fellows.
Directed by Courtney Jines
Music by Kayla Briët
Motion graphics by Tara Clune - Adobe Project 1324