Director Jamie Babbit (But I’m a Cheerleader) used Born in Flames as the inspiration for her tongue-in-cheek film, Itty Bitty Titty Committee – a riot grrrl meets The Weather Underground romp.

Babbit is on the board of Power Up, an LA collective promoting lesbians in film and the arts. She says the diet of 35mm saturated fat that Hollywood is feeding young women has rendered them apolitical and apathetic – just don’t tell her the problem is there’s not so much to rebel against any more.

“Are you kidding me?” she explodes down the phone. “For women there are so many things to rebel against. There’s lack of job opportunities; the financial situation is totally not fair. Look at directors: there are less women directors than there are women in the [US] Senate, and there’s not a lot of women in the Senate...”

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“...or they can make movies like Itty Bitty – any kind of creative expression. But I also think the whole point of the movie is that people should go out and do something, whether it’s creative or political. It’s important to notice things around you and to notice that things are fucked up. Do something about it.”

Itty Bitty Titty Committee is about Anna (Melonie Diaz, pictured with co-star Nicole Vicius), a nice young lesbian who knows there’s something wrong with her life... but what? One night she meets underground activists the CiA (Clits in Action) and becomes involved in their subversive feminist acts: substituting realistic mannequins in a boutique window, for example.

Anna’s growing political awareness leads to her designing CiA’s ultimate terrorist act, which involves L Word hottie Daniela Sea (playing an Iraq War veteran) waving around a homemade bomb. How did that go down with American audiences?

“It was funny, because our DP is German and she was saying, ‘This is like a Hamas video!’ I thought it was kind of amusing, but I have a sick sense of humour. It might not be acceptable to America, but it’s acceptable to me.”

What isn’t acceptable for Babbit is marriage, straight or gay. One CiA action sees the film’s characters protesting against gay marriage advocates, who are also being picketed by the Christian right.

“It’s a bizarre thing to have the government mandate anything related to affairs of the heart,” Babbit says. “Why can’t people get married to two people at the same time? I have a problem buying into a system I feel is really flawed. I understand there are legal issues and that people should be protected, like their kids, but I also feel like personally I’m not for gay marriage.”

In a couple of months Babbit starts shooting her next film – “a Hitchcockian thriller” – with a much bigger budget. And after that – will she one day end up directing Angelina Jolie in a trillion dollar blockbuster?

“I’m really excited about that inevitability,” she says. “I cannot wait. I’m not married to making movies for five cents.”

Itty Bitty Titty Committee is out now through FQ Films/Beyond Home Entertainment.