Ep 264: Filmmaking, Resilience & Ethical Storytelling with Rene Estes
18 September 2025

Ep 264: Filmmaking, Resilience & Ethical Storytelling with Rene Estes

Filmmaking Conversations Podcast with Damien Swaby

About
📝 Show NotesIn this episode of Filmmaking Conversations, we sit down with filmmaker, media strategist, and founder of The Video Mentor, Rene Estes. With a career that spans STEM research, entrepreneurship, and film, Rene brings a bold, emotionally intelligent lens to the power of storytelling.We dive into:
    The emotional impact of digital narratives and ethical storytelling.How media shapes cultural beliefs around aging, beauty, and resilience.Rene’s journey creating The Video Mentor, a platform empowering creators to produce cinematic content on their own.Lessons on confidence, belonging, and overcoming challenges as a woman in media.Why resilience—both emotional and financial—is critical for creators.How storytelling can become a tool for truth, influence, and hope in an era of misinformation.
Rene’s perspective challenges us to go deeper, avoid surface-level clickbait, and embrace media that sparks human connection, innovation, and change.
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