Kayla Sotomil is an independent ethnographic filmmaker and mananalaysay, storyteller. Her work focuses on ancestral ritual, cultural practitioners, ethnic and regional foodways, and diasporic communities.

Kayla’s filmmaking practice archives the rich stories of diasporic peoples and the ways through which they maintain connection to their native culture and practices. She centers the work of cultural practitioners, their service to their community, and how they remain rooted in their heritage and guided by ancestral wisdom.  It is Kayla’s intention to explore the relationships between ancestors and descendants while simultaneously creating documents for future descendants. While her work is heavily influenced by anthropological method, it is most inspired by the traditions of folk storytellers and historians. Her lens is one of careful curiosity and deep reverence for the individuals generous enough to share their stories with her.

She is currently in production on a project with Hawaiian Master Storyteller Lopaka Kapanui. She is also promoting her newly released short film Rituals of the Diaspora: Lyn Pacificar, Katuuran, which screened at the Diwa Filipino Film Festival of Seattle and Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival in 2023.

Kayla’s first short film The Modern Mambabatok: Lane Wilcken and Filipino Tattooing in the Diaspora won the award for Best Short Documentary at the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival 2020 and was selected for the Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, University of Pennsylvania’s CAMRA Scholarship Festival, and the SCA/SVA Distribute Virtual Film Festival.

Kayla received an MA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Southern California, an MA in Food Studies from New York University, the Grand Diploma in Culinary Arts from the French Culinary Institute, and a BA in Linguistic Anthropology from Brandeis University.

Prior to filmmaking, Kayla worked in food education and cooked professionally in New York City. She now divides her time between Los Angeles and Chicago.