Leah Moth is a filmmaker, actor, poet, herbalist and witch. Based in Los Angeles, she has forged a path through diverse mediums in which she harmonizes art, sensuality, and performance. She will be presenting her film work on our projections for the next Salon on July 31st, 2024. Today, we talk to her about her work, and who her biggest influences are.
1. Why do you make this type of art?
I love working within the medium of film, whether it be experimental or narrative, because of the vastness of possibility available within it. Film is both immortal and impermanent, symbolic and deeply human. Whether the story is told around a fire or reflected on screen, mythology transcends, and collectively we feel seen. As a witch, with everything I make, there is a deep and sacred intention that weaves through the act of creation. For the “Invocations” series, these three films each hold their own intention and weave together as a sequence of rituals crafted through the medium of cinema. Invocation of the Intimate, Invocation of the Wild, and Invocation of the Dawn. Every element of the experience of “Invocations” is a spell: the making of the film, the watching of it, the existence of it. Invocation explores themes of sensuality, femininity, life-death cycles, subversion and magick.
2. Did you always want to be an artist?
I’ve been a performer my whole life. As soon as I hit puberty I was put in a princess dress and performed as costumed characters every weekend until I left home. Raised by a single mom who owns a children’s birthday party business, performing as a princess helped put food on the table. This sparked a lifelong love for performing and storytelling. Once I moved to Los Angeles, I worked in film and television as an actor. From there, I began writing my own stories and directing my own projects. As I’ve established my own voice as a filmmaker, my creative impulses lead me to stories about the darker edges of the feminine experience. I’m passionate about what’s beneath the surface - eroticism, subconscious desire, and the duality of the human psyche.
3. Do you listen to music while you create? If so, what is on your playlist?
Music is such an important ingredient in the creative process for me. While there were specific playlists for each of the Invocations films, I would say the greatest influences were Daemonia Nymphe, Chelsea Wolfe, Brodka, Sevdaliza, Bjork, Burial, Roniit (one of my dear friends and a powerful siren), and old world folk music.
4. Who are your biggest influences?
As a devotee of the Goddess, I hope that folks feel her influence and spirit within these films. For “Invocations”, I was very inspired to carry on the lineage of LA occultist filmmakers and artists, specifically Kenneth Anger, Maya Deren, and Cameron. I grew up dancing, and movement continues to be a great source of influence for me, specifically the work of Pina Bausch and Martha Graham. I love to be inspired and try to find it within everything, even in, and maybe especially, the dark and challenging aspects of life.
5. What has been a seminal experience?
When I moved to LA, I quickly stumbled into the BDSM community which threw me onto an unexpected path. I was quite young, around twenty or so, so it had a great impact. Kink was one of the greatest things to happen to me. Healing, cathartic, empowering, liberating, terrifying, confronting. The exploration of the erotic has been both a personal and professional journey. I’ve put myself in some very strange situations in the quest for the shadow of the collective sexual psyche. I wouldn’t have it any other way. :)
6. Name something you love (anything) and why.
I love sensuality. I love how it engages you into a deeper connection with life. I love devoting myself to it. I love that it’s different from person to person. I love texture and taste, sound and song, pheromones and aromatics. I’m a hedonist for all that is sensual and pleasure.
