A Passion for Film Anonymous

I made my first movie when I was seven.It was a two-minute slasher flick entitled “Psycho Killer on the Loose”. I spelled “psycho” wrong on the movie’s hand-drawn title card. It starred my five-year-old brother as “the psycho” and my best friend as a teenage girl who aimlessly ran around the back yard flailing her arms in despair. Like a French New Wave masterpiece, it had little-to-no meaningful dialogue.

Although my first movie was not an Oscar contender, it marked the conception of my future goals -- goals that have changed little since those formative years. Since I was seven, I have known that I would have a career in the film industry.

Growing up in an environment rich with music, art, and movies, I developed an early appreciation for the value of creativity and recognized that creativity was a dominant component in achieving personal happiness. As a child, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my go-to answer was always “artist”. After making my first movie, however, I realized that my calling was to be a film-maker. All it took was the creation of one very scrappy scary movie, and I was hooked.

At this transitional time in our lives, I can see most of my peers scrambling to determine who they are and what they...