Studio Floors & Angry Moms

By Audrey Cress

Inside a lower Manhattan nonprofit studio, Amy Kalafa, now known for producing independent documentaries and corporate work for clients from ABC to Food Network, was producing a music video for one of her favorite Scottish bands: The Ravillos. The set pulsed with an ’80s pop aesthetic: dyed spaghetti noodles cascading from tubes in the ceiling, streamers framing the room in bursts of color.

While the video ended up being a roaring success, Kalafa came back to the studio the next day to find that the spaghetti had stained its beautiful antique wood floors. 

“We thought we had cleaned everything that night, but we ended up spending days on our hands and knees scrubbing and sanding the floor. It was a lot of work, but really fun, and the project turned out to be one of my most memorable,” Kalafa said.

Far from the floor of the Manhattan studio, Kalafa’s career has travelled through the networks of CBS, PBS, Food Network and ABC, to name a few.

Now living in St. Augustine, Kalafa continues her award-winning work as a documentary filmmaker, editor and producer (“From the Deep Grapevine: French Roots, American Soil”, “Inside the Criminal Mind”, “Two Angry Moms”) and as a published book author (“Lunch Wars”).

She has produced and edited hundreds of hours of TV and web programming, and a member of the Saint Augustine Film Society, who screened her film, “Ghost Mountain”, a year or so ago. 

Despite her success as a producer, her dream in college had been to become a psychologist, but she took a film class and fell in love with it. It was an exciting time to enter the field.

“During the time I was in college, portable video started happening, so I came in at a critical turning point,” Kalafa said. 

The digital revolution hit in the 1990s, and while it discouraged some, Kalafa was never one to let such challenges dictate her path or limit her sights. Through three decades of ongoing innovation, she became proficient in every wave of advancing technology that has washed over filmmaking.

Changing technology wasn’t the only thing serving to limit Kalafa’s ambition. Being in a male-dominated field also posed its difficulties.

“Being a woman in this field was a challenge, and because I always knew I wanted to be able to do certain things technically, I studied engineering for a year. I wanted to be able to figure out how to put systems together in ways that people didn’t think you could,” she said.

Her interest in holistic health and social justice has been a staple in her career. Such passions, can lead to controversy. Her independent documentary “Two Angry Moms” (2006) sparked significant debate and drew sharply divided responses. 

It all started when she realized her kids’ school was offering them more appealing options than the healthy lunches she was packing for them.

“I went to the school and found out my daughter had been buying Pop-Tarts and Rice Krispies treats at lunch,” Kalafa said. “The school was making money from selling kids junk food! I kept saying ‘someone should make a film about this,’ and eventually decided that that someone was me.”

The film won numerous awards and was broadcast on PBS’s “Independent Lens”, sparking change–despite a few roadblocks.

To make the film, Amy had to work hard to earn access to schools and their cafeterias and to be allowed to interview children and staff. During the process, she even received threats. Lawyers watched her documentary over 15 times to ensure she wouldn’t be sued for what she said or filmed. 

Despite the obstacles, “Two Angry Moms” made a difference, and said something special: local action by individuals can make a change.

“We ended up influencing the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They did change some rules and regulations around school food,” Kalafa said.

Kalafa’s drive to produce and create is furthering in real time. A film she produced about her neighbor, Richard White, a man renowned at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, has been selected to be shown at the St. Auggie Shorts Film Festival.

Kalafa’s advice to young people, or to anyone, is this: “Don’t wait for permission. Keep doing your own work, even if it’s on the side. Otherwise, it’s easy to lose the thing you actually care about.”

Kalafa is continuing the work she cares about. From colorful spaghetti in Manhattan to remarkable people in St. Augustine, we haven’t seen the last of Amy Kalafa.