our story

malinda baum

director · filmmaker · mother · grandmother

malinda baum spent years running toward danger — as a firefighter and paramedic, she answered the calls no one else wanted to take. she was the first woman in her fire department, and she proved every day that she belonged. during those years on the front lines, she began to see the cracks in the system — the lack of training around human trafficking, the silences that let exploitation thrive unchecked.

then breast cancer changed everything. it ended her firefighting career, but it ignited something new. malinda picked up a camera and pointed it at the stories that mattered — the ones falling through the cracks, the ones no one was telling.

now an mfa candidate in documentary filmmaking, she brings a rare combination of lived experience and artistic discipline to every project. she doesn't parachute into people's lives — she stays, she listens, she earns trust. her camera is a tool for presence, not extraction.

between film shoots, malinda drives from liberty hill, tx to quinlan, tx every few weeks to care for her 86-year-old father — a quiet act of devotion that mirrors the patience and tenderness she brings to her filmmaking.

her mission has always been the same: education and service. whether it's a documentary about human trafficking, a film about firefighters fighting for equal protection, or a legacy piece for a family — malinda's work is about one thing: helping people identify and recognize the signs of exploitation and injustice, and using her camera to stay present with the people and stories that matter.