Brittany Huckabee is an independent filmmaker whose work focuses on telling stories about the experiences of women. She has more than 15 years of experience directing and producing documentaries. Most recently, Huckabee wrote, edited, and produced “Hot Girls Wanted,” an inside look at the amateur pornography industry that premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The doc was acquired by Netflix and nominated for an Emmy. Huckabee produced and edited “Sexy Baby,” which premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival and was picked up by Showtime. Huckabee’s other directing credits include “The Mosque in Morgantown,” “Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism,” and “Art Under the Radar.”

“After Fire” will premiere at the 2016 DOC NYC film festival on November 11.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

BH: “After Fire” is a documentary about three female veterans living in the military outpost of San Antonio, Texas. All three are strong, beautiful, and accomplished women, but they are also survivors of trauma incurred during their service.

By following them as they adjust to the civilian world, the film shows how traumatic experiences like combat injuries and military sexual assault can reverberate in unexpected ways for years afterward.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

BH: As a filmmaker, I wanted to make this documentary as part of a larger body of work telling the stories of women — from a single mother fighting intolerance in her hometown mosque, to a young girl growing up in the age of sexting, to, most recently, teenage recruits in the internet pornography industry.

But with “After Fire” I have also been on something of a personal quest. About two years ago, I experienced a trauma of my own, a completely unexpected event that upended my life. In setting out to make this film, I hoped to find an answer to these questions: How do you go on after everything you believed to be true seems to have been proven a lie? How do you come back after the world has collapsed around you?

These were the same kind of questions I saw in the eyes of so many of the women I met while making this film. Our wounds were all unique, but there was something universal about the experience we shared.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

BH: Almost everyone experiences trauma at some point in their lives. I hope this film will leave audiences with insight on how to move forward in the aftermath. As the women in the film learn, telling our own stories — and having those stories heard by others — enables us to reconnect with ourselves and with a community. This can be a crucial first step in the healing process.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

BH: This film takes on sensitive subject matter, and an important part of its story revolves around the issue of disclosure: what one chooses to tell, to whom, and when. I considered the women I was filming as partners in the storytelling process and I didn’t want to push them to share things they weren’t ready to share. For the most part, I believe that dynamic served the story, but there were times that it came into conflict with the considerations of clear and impactful filmmaking. In those instances I chose to defer to my subjects.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

BH: I was fortunate to be working with Transform Films, a production company that backs films focused on social impact, from the very beginning of this project. We’re actually still working to finish raising funds, but I’ve never been one to let a lack of money stop me from making a film. So if I need to, say, shoot, edit, do graphics, as well as direct and produce, I’ll do it. In this case, I did all of that, and a bit more.

W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at DOC NYC?

BH: I’ve been watching films at DOC NYC since it started and it’s been exciting to see it grow. This year its opening weekend coincides with Veterans Day, so I decided it would be a great place to launch this film.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

BH: In regards to filmmaking, I think the worst advice I’ve received may have been from a boss at a funding organization who once told me I couldn’t possibly do my own shooting if I wanted to make a good film. There are obvious drawbacks to working that way, but there are also benefits, especially when it comes to access and intimacy on set.

Some of the best advice I’ve received is from filmmakers and other artists who remind me to stay focused on the work. Credits and awards and other kinds of validation are nice, but ultimately it has to be the process of telling a story that pulls you back into the field again and again.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

BH: We all know the countless ways being a woman in this field can be a liability. But, of course, we can always use being underestimated to our advantage, especially when it comes to getting access and helping people feel comfortable telling us their stories.

Beyond these process issues, I think I would say that it’s important for women directors not to shy away from telling stories from a female perspective. When I say that, I don’t mean with sentimentality or any other stereotypical approach. When enough of us step up and unabashedly tell stories through our own eyes, audiences will begin to get past the stereotypes and understand that there are many different ways of seeing the world as a woman.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

BH: There are so many I love, but when asked this question I always go back to “Southern Comfort,” a 2001 documentary by Kate Davis about a transgender man dying from ovarian cancer who is in a relationship with a transsexual woman. Davis takes a story that could have been presented as a freak show and does exactly the opposite, drawing out the humanity of her subjects until you just fall in love with them and become completely absorbed in their perspective. This approach, along with her coverage of scenes and the way she combines vérité footage with interviews to get inside her subjects’ heads, has had a major influence on my own filmmaking.

W&H: Have you seen opportunities for women filmmakers increase over the last year due to the increased attention paid to the issue? If someone asked you what you thought needed to be done to get women more opportunities to direct, what would be your answer?

BH: I think there’s a lot of talk right now, but I’m not sure if there’s action — or money — to back it up. I’d like to see organizations like Fork Films and Chicken & Egg Pictures get more funding and continue the great work they’re already doing to support women filmmakers, and I’d like to see those organizations take even more risks to amplify diverse female voices.