Celene Beth is an award-winning Latiné filmmaker, documentary storyteller, podcast host, and certified mental health coordinator whose work sits at the intersection of healing, advocacy, and representation. As a survivor, mother, and creative, she's using both her personal story and her art to challenge the systems and beliefs that shaped her life. Read on to discover how Celene is breaking generational cycles, redefining healing on her own terms, and creating a different future for her daughter.
How do you define a "Cycle Breaker?"
To me, a cycle breaker is someone who has the will to thrive and finds ways to break the cultural cycles that no longer serve you and future generations.
What adversities or experiences have you lived through?
For many of my core years, I lived through CSA, SA, and DV, which left me navigating C-PTSI. This was made that much more complicated by a late diagnosis of ADHD. Surviving this has shaped my resolve to break deep cultural cycles and build a different future for my child.
What is a cycle, belief or pattern you’ve worked to break or challenge in your life?
I have worked to break the deeply rooted cultural cycle of religion in mi familia. Much of my trauma in my young adult years was tied to Catholicism, and transitioning to an agnostic path has been a hard, but healing process. Breaking this cycle means raising my daughter differently—allowing her the autonomy to ask her own questions and explore her own beliefs as she ages.
What helped you begin healing, growing, or changing that cycle?
Therapy, therapy, and hella therapy. Beyond that, my healing grew through becoming a Mama and a certified mental health coordinator in the entertainment industry. While my trauma-informed education shapes my professional scope of work, my most important job is being the best Mama to my girl. She deserves a foundation of safety, love, and validation—especially after the sacrifices it took to bring her into my life.
What are your proudest accomplishments?
I just celebrated a little over a year since returning to my filmmaking career and have landed in places that I always dreamt of landing, especially as a Latiné filmmaker in this landscape we are in. I recently completed the Utah Film Center Pitch Competition and won the Emergence Film Award, begun the Legacy Fellowship with Docs in Progress, and was accepted into a summer cohort with one of the most elite film and media institutions with my first feature-length documentary, K*lling Theodore.
Is there a message, quote, lesson, or reminder you’d like to share with others who may be struggling along their healing journey?
Sometimes you have to sit with the chaos and release it through whatever brings you joy. For me, that meant finding pockets of happy from when I was younger—especially through dance, music, and film—and letting my body remember those moments of peace. Honor your brain, the season of life you are in, and know that community is always one Zoom meeting away. There are mental health resources available, including sliding scale or low-cost solutions, but do your homework and remember that you are not alone.
Do you have any projects you're working on that you'd like to highlight?
I’m currently working on my debut feature-length documentary, K*lling Theodore, which is in active production, alongside its prologue—my first short documentary, The Sundance Kid. Additionally, Season III of my podcast, True Crime & Hollywood: A Personal Tale, is coming soon. All of these projects have their own Instagram pages, so please give them a follow!
Connect with Celene:
• Instagram: @celenebeth