Kamala Lopez has been named the 2015 Woman of the Year by the LA County’s Board of Supervisors and the Women’s Commission, one of 21 Leaders of the 21st Century by eNews, and the 2011 Woman of Courage by the National Women’s Political Caucus. She has spoken at conferences around the world on women’s rights and equality. In 1995 Lopez formed her production company, Heroica Films, with the mission to write, direct, and produce media for women, about women, and utilizing women in front of and behind the camera. She is also an actress with more than 30 films under her belt.

“Equal Means Equal” opens August 26 — Women’s Equality Day. The League of Women Voters will be registering audience members as they leave screenings of the film, and the YWCA, NAACP, the ERA Coalition, and a number of other groups are hosting or partnering on screenings. For more information on Women’s Equality Day and “Equal Means Equal,” including a screening of the film taking place at United Nations headquarters in New York, visit the doc’s official site.

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

KL: “Equal Means Equal” is a comprehensive analysis of sex discrimination in the United States today. Through the lens of our most pressing issues — and the laws we have in place that purportedly address them — the film exposes a broken system and reignites the dialogue on full federal equality for women and the ERA.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

KL: What fascinated me about the subject was how epic it was and yet how quotidian. When 80 percent of the public believes that something as basic as human and civil rights for over half the population exists when it doesn’t — now that’s quite a story! It’s like having a big fat elephant in the middle of the room that happens to be wearing an invisibility cloak. And for those few Americans who are aware that women are not equal under our Constitution, there is a laissez-faire attitude about it couched in a dismissal of its relevance.

But legal equality is more relevant for women today than ever — in fact, it’s crucial. Despite the perception that women can “be, do, and have” whatever they want nowadays, the absence of basic equality under federal law has multi-tentacled ramifications that affect everything from the gender pay gap to pregnancy discrimination, from rape and child sex trafficking to juvenile justice and rates of female incarceration.

The story of how we deal with women in America is one that is going to have to be dealt with if we are going to evolve as a nation and species.

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

KL: What can I do to help?

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

KL: It was an endless series of challenges. The biggest was convincing media outlets and distributors that this was a valid film and deserved to be made available to the public. The second biggest was that I had a right to have a voice in my own film.

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

KL: The film was funded initially through the good will and financial support of my mother, Liz Lopez, who is an Executive Producer on “Equal Means Equal,” as well as the help of long time ERA Activists like Roberta Francis and Barbara Irvine, who raised enough money within their circles to send me and a small team to DC for our first of many shoots.

Once we had some good footage to work with, we put together a trailer and did a very successful Kickstarter Campaign where we almost doubled our initial ask. Still, there remained much more funding needed and we begged, borrowed, and lucked into a great deal of good will, deferments, and donations.

We struggled slowly through much of post-production until Patricia Arquette stepped in to help spread the word about the film which coincided with her historic speech at the 2015 Oscars. She is also an Executive Producer and a longtime supporter of the ERA Education Project.

Through Patricia we were introduced to Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, a company with a very strong team of female executives who brought to his attention that there was a gender pay problem at the company. Marc conducted a gender audit of the company of his own volition and found a three million dollar discrepancy which he rectified! This great guy donated funds to help us pull through the critical end of post production and into the outreach period.

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

KL: Best advice: Create your own material — don’t wait for the phone to ring.

Worst advice: Take the 405.

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

KL: Be prepared. Be certain. Be brave. Don’t put up with bullshit. If you are not being treated with respect you should fire the person immediately. You will find a remarkable change in the atmosphere.

Don’t try to “people please”: it will bite you in the ass. People are looking for a leader in a director, so lead.

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

KL: I am a big fan of Marleen Gorris’ 1995 film “Antonia’s Line. It is genius — subversive, sweet, and radically feminine.