The film demonstrates that a brand can focus on telling a compelling story while also achieving its commercial goals.

It demonstrates a strategy of focusing first on the film and establishing it as a compelling piece of content that can later be leveraged to build brand equity and as an asset to drive retailer support.

P&G has embraced storytelling to encourage gender equality through brand programs such as "Share the Load" for Ariel and to change the conversations around periods through programs such as "Like A Girl" for Always and "The Missing Chapter" for Whisper.

The collaboration between This is L. and the filmmaking team began in 2019 after a Cannes panel session that featured Marc Pritchard and Rayka Zehtabchi, the Oscar-winning director of "Period. End of Sentence.". The brief to Zehtabchi was an open one, create a film for a P&G brand that would change the way we talk about periods.

Zehtabchi and Navajo filmmaker Shaandiin Tome, collaborated with the Karuk Tribe of Northern California to make a documentary that was centered on the Ihuk, a Karuk coming of age ceremony, where a community prepares a “Flower Dance” for a young girl to celebrate her first period and her eventual transition to womanhood.

The This is L brand has been built by using love rather than fear to guide decisions from our advertising to our products and our long-standing partnership with the Pad Project.

Therefore it was a natural decision to let the viewer feel the impact of a more positive approach rather than directly confronting the negative views toward menstruation.

We believe that if menstruators around the world were lifted up the way Karuk women are at the onset of menstruation, our world would look a lot different. By amplifying this message, L. chooses to be at the forefront of the conversation, championing period positivity and setting the tone for how we talk about periods.

We made the strategic decision to focus on the appropriate story rather than overt branding. We believed that if we could tell a great story that we could build a commercialization plan later.

Share a story more about the positive aspects of menstruation and of communities that are not shaming their girls but rather supporting and uplifting them.

Although the film may be about periods on the surface, there’s so much more to this story. Now that she’s been lifted up and celebrated by her community for becoming a woman, what else is she empowered to do and how can she shares that power with those not in her community.

Although “Long Line of Ladies” is centered around one family, the story is told through the community. It challenges the way that many western cultures approach menstruation from a stressful, awkward time that can hurt confidence to a moment of celebration, unity and pride.

The idea was to be observational and present without being intrusive, honoring who the family is without infringing on who they are. We wanted to respect that and keep our distance while also seeing the beauty as it unfolded. Whether that was lingering on shots or keeping a distance, it was all about being respectful. The ceremony was for Ahty and her family so we had to be thoughtful and intentional in what we captured

The film was selected for over 60 film festivals around the world and earned over 15 jury awards, including the following Oscar-qualifying awards:

SXSW

Seattle

San Francisco

Indy Shorts

DOC NYC (#MyJustice social impact award winner)

Flickerfest Short Film Festival

Long Line of Ladies was eventually distributed by the New York Times Op-Docs, giving the film and its message and massive online platform, free for all audiences to access. Shortly after, the film was invited to screen at The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, cementing its cultural importance.

With the film as the centerpiece, we were also able to develop a commercial partnership with a major American retailer to secure additional retail facings in thousands of US stores and partner on an activation later this year that will include in-store displays and additional product donations to native communities. We plan to enter the activation in next year’s festival.

The depiction of Indigenous history and culture has been plagued by an exploitive, romanticized and ethnographic lens. Similarly, in media, periods are so often depicted in a negative and shameful light. The filmmakers challenged themselves to make a film that honors its subjects, the subject matter, resists manufacturing drama or conflict and encourages the respectful consumption of another’s culture. They looked to the community to guide them in telling their story, creating a space for honoring and protecting their tradition and future.

With “Long Line of Ladies,” the filmmakers wanted to create a healing, holistic representation of an Indigenous community that challenges and works to undo the misrepresentations of the past.