Kristina Leath-Malin is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, media scholar, and digital artist whose work explores the intersections of race, gender, and genre storytelling — particularly in horror. She holds an MA and MFA in Media Arts from Long Island University, focusing on post-production, media management, and feminist media theory.
Her centerpiece project, My Final Girl, is a groundbreaking multimedia exploration of Black women’s representation and contributions to American horror cinema. Spanning a documentary short, web series, and online database, the project redefines the “Final Girl” trope, elevating the voices and visibility of Black women in the genre’s history and future.
Her scholarly work includes Objectification Repackaged: The Women of 21st Century French Horror — a critical analysis of gender, violence, and female representation in modern French horror cinema.
Kristina’s artistic journey began on stage as an actor and opera student before transitioning into filmmaking, where her voice found new strength in visual storytelling. Her research first focused on French women in horror, later expanding to center Black women’s experiences in the genre — a shift inspired by her daughter. This legacy of feminist horror analysis now continues through her explorations into global feminist horror perspectives, including Italian and Asian cinema.
As a dedicated media educator, Kristina served as an MA Student Mentor and Thesis Project Panel Reviewer for the Raindance Film Festival’s postgraduate program. Her expertise has been featured on panels, podcasts, and in publications through various conferences, universities and also the Women’s Media Center as a SheSource Expert in Feminist Horror Cinema. Her creative consultancy KLM Brooklyn offers a dynamic approach to storytelling, blending content strategy with artistic vision.
Kristina’s work stands as an act of reclamation — confronting the erasure of Black women in horror while redefining the genre’s legacy through a Black feminist lens. Her stories amplify voices long dismissed, ensuring her daughter and the next generation inherit a more inclusive, powerful, and unapologetic vision of who gets to survive, resist, and rise.
MY FINAL GIRL TIMELINE
2009
10 September
I decided to focus my graduate studies on Women in Horror
2010
09 September
Focused in on Women of French Horror after seeing L'Interieur (Inside)
2011
14 May
Completed Master Thesis on the Women of French Horror
06 June
Master Thesis was published - "Objectification Repackaged: The Women of 21st Century Horror"
"Objectification Repackaged: The Women of 21st Century Horror"
07 August
Natural evolution from MA to MFA
I wanted to continue looking at Feminist Horror Scholarship and was considering a variety of countries to look at next. Then one day my 2 yr old daughter woke from her nap while I was watching the horror film Basket Case- EeK!! - But that was the spark for my MFA work on Black Women in Horror. I turn my work towards a look at black women in horror to offer her a legacy of my work that actually pertained to us.
2012
04 February
MFA Project gets a name My Final Girl - Black Women in American Horror
This title is a play on Carol Clover's 'Final Girl' theory in "Men, Women, & Chainsaws" but the "My" is the implication that in the Final Girl theory there is no POC research. More Specifically, the Final Girl THeory is based on a sample of White women in American Horror.
Thus, My Final Girl is the POC response to the Final Girl Theory.
08 March
Interviewed Beverly Bonner
16 March
Visited the Schomburg Archives to research Black Hollywood via Don Bogle
21 July
Interviewed Dr. Robin Means-Coleman about Horror Noir Book and creating a space for Black Horror Theory
23 July
Visited University of Indiana Black Film Archive to look at Original Ganja & Hess Posters and Artwork
08 August
Interviewed Marlene Clark about Ganja & Hess, Night of the Cobra Woman, and the industry
08 August
Visited UCLA Film Archives to screen Sweet Sweetback Badasssss Song
10 August
Interviewed Isabel Pinedo about Female horror viewers "Recreational Terror"
24 September
Interview Sam Waymon to discuss the Score of Ganja & Hess and creating Black Sound for a Black Film
11 December
Interviewed Gloria Gifford about Halloween II and the part orig. being for a white woman
11 December
Visited Amoeba Music to search for MFG Black Film Memorabilia & Media
11 December
Visited Eddie Brandt
11 December
Visited Larry Edmunds Bookshop to search for MFG Black Film Memorabilia & Media
2013
04 April
Interviewed William Crain in LA about Blacula and the sequel
01 November
Interviewed Chiz Schultz and discussed the trials and tribulations of Ganja & Hess Production vs. the industry and union road blocks
2014
22 February
Invited to speak My Final Girl @ Philly Women Love Horror hosted by Ashlee Blackwell
2015
12 March
INDIE Wire writes a "Must See" article about MFG
01 September
Shared My Final Girl @ a talk about Horror and the presence of Blackness @ Burning Man
10 October
Spoke @ Women in Horror Fest about My Final Girl with Ashlee Blackwell
2016
10 May
MFA Exhibition & Screening of My Final Girl
14 May
Defended MFA Thesis - My Final Girl *Passed with Distinction
29 May
"The Business of Love" *(the marriage and life of Alice B. Russell) play in Lower East Side Festival of Arts
Came across one of the first Black Female Producers in America Alice B. Russell (wife of Oscar Micheaux) while continuing MFG research and began writing a short play about her.
06 September
Shot "One For The Road" Stephen King Dollar Baby an MFG endeavor with 90% Female cast /crew
2017
20 April
Shadow & Act writes a "Must See" about MFG
2019
30 January
Screened My Final Girl in Germany @ Final Girls Film Festival in Berlin
21 February
Screened My Final Girl @ Big Bloody Apple: NYC Women in Horror Month
2017-Present
Watching lots of films and attempting to review 52 films by Women @ www.KLMBrooklyn.com