Over the weekend, producer Effie Brown delivered the Keynote address at the 12th annual Film Independent Forum, presented by Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the LA Film Festival.

The Forum ran from October 21-23 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles.

“We could not think of a better Keynote than Effie Brown, who perfectly embodies the ‘working filmmaker’ we strive to celebrate and support,” said Maria Raquel Bozzi, Senior Director of Education and International Initiatives at Film Independent. “Film Independent supported her since the beginning through our Project Involve program, and now as an active Board member we rely on her to mentor and serve as a role model for other emerging filmmakers.”

The full keynote speech, which Brown delivered yesterday, has been released online by Film Independent, and is embedded below; some inspirational viewing for those that need a psychological boost, as Brown speaks about her childhood days saddened but also inspired by not seeing any representations of herself on screen, and setting herself on a course to positively affect that kind of blatant omission, with more than a dozen films producer credits on her resume thus far. Of course she touches on the fallout from her experience on “Project Greenlight” – an experience that was very well documented, and what needs to be done now to resolve the so-called “diversity in Hollywood” problem (“shame and money”). It’s a very candid speech so check it out: