Swamp Dykes

An upcoming feature documentary by Caitlin Crowley

Support the gay agenda

‘Swamp Dykes’ is not a film about whether queer people belong in Florida.

It’s a film about how belonging is built,

and people creating the spaces they wish existed.

Meet the Team

Caitlin Crowley

DIRECTOR + CINEMATOGRAPHER

Caitlin Crowley is a queer filmmaker and cinematographer from Florida. She holds a Master’s degree in Multimedia Journalism from the University of Oregon, and brings a documentary practice shaped by long-form relationship building. Across her work, she is interested in what happens when you stay long enough for a story to stop performing and start revealing itself.
Caitlin has served as the Director of Photography on narrative short films, music videos, and the upcoming documentary, Makers Gotta Make. Her cinematography and assistant editing on Within Reach: The Fight to Finish Cancer contributed to a Northwest Emmy nomination.
Sarah Boursheid

EDITOR

Sarah Bourscheid is an award-winning documentary video editor with a passion for socially responsible, character-driven stories that often make her cry on her keyboard. Sarah’s favorite stories to tell are ones that dispel misunderstanding, don’t shy from humanity’s flaws, and remind the viewer of all the beauty that coexists with the mess. In addition to video editing, she is a multimedia artist and poet in progress on a chapbook around the theme of home.
Courtney Hermann

CONSULTING PRODUCER

Courtney Hermann (she/they) is a documentary filmmaker with decades of experience directing, producing, and shooting short and feature-length documentary films. Courtney is co-author of the foundational textbook Directing the Documentary with Michael Rabiger. Her full-length documentaries include Outliers and Outlaws (a part of the public, multi-platform Eugene Lesbian History Project); Standing Silent Nation (nationally broadcast on POV/PBS and programmed at the Smithsonian Institution); and Exotic World and the Burlesque Revival (selected for dOCUMENTA 15 and featured daily at the Burlesque Hall of Fame Museum). Courtney is an Associate Professor of Film at Portland State University, and a Producer on Swamp Dykes.
Dana deLaski

PRODUCER

Dana deLaski (she/her) is a Portland-based documentary producer and filmmaker. Her credits include Co-Producer on the award-winning documentary short Remembering York (2023) and Assistant Editor on Hitoláayca (Going Upriver) (2025), winner of Best Northwest Short at the 2025 BendFilm Festival. Her first feature documentary as Producer and Director, The Hard Part (2025), premiered at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival and is currently in distribution with Collective Eye Films. In addition to Swamp Dykes, she is currently producing the feature documentary Our Next Speaker, about high school speech & debate.

We are currently in the fine-tuning stages of post-production and are seeking additional funding to complete professional sound and color.

Post-Production

Support the film

How to help:

VENMO US!
- Send Caitlin the contact info for your rich aunts and uncles
And then send them to follow @crowleyfilms on Instagram

Baby Swamp Dyke

Caitlin Crowley (Director and Dyke)

Making this film reshaped my feelings about my home state and made me gayer.

As a queer person who grew up in Florida, my relationship to the state informs each creative decision. The camera isn’t neutral. It’s guided by someone who understands the complexity of loving a place that has caused harm, while still believing it’s worth fighting for.

This film dispels fear-mongering ideas about Florida and shows an authentic palette of queer reality in predominantly conservative areas.

‘Swamp Dykes’ feels warm, immersive, and deeply human. Rather than simply learning about a community, viewers are invited to experience what it feels like to belong to one.

The communities at the center of this film are funny. Not despite the challenges they face, but often because of them. There is a uniquely queer ability to transform hardship into inside jokes and collective action: we show that in 4K.

For me, success looks like audiences across the nation seeing themselves reflected with tenderness and humor. It looks like someone in a small town leaving a screening feeling less alone. It looks like partnering with queer organizations and nightlife collectives to facilitate the ass-shaking that this film was born out of.

More about Caitlin