The only way restless 3-year-old-me could keep myself occupied at family dinners was by creating epic dramas with forks and spoons as my characters (and sometimes knives if I needed a third character, which I can’t say my parents particularly loved). Of course when I discovered dolls, and that I could film their stories with my mom’s camcorder, my path was solidifed—though I didn’t know it yet. As I grew, and as life brought its hardships (as it always does), I can say that I never felt more energized than when I was watching a movie or creating stories. 

Becoming aware of politics and immersing myself in activism as a teenager, I realized my soul ignited the most when I was learning about other people’s lived experiences—when my tiny little ‘white suburbia’ bubble popped. I became desperate to understand the world and its unfairness, and instead of learning to accept it, I was driven by the desire to challenge preconceived notions of how the world works. My motivation comes from my strong belief that the world will end when everyone stops questioning the status quo.

 As a filmmaker, I aspire to make audiences sit with real, painfully human experiences, with my education in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics as an intellectual catalyst to craft authentic stories that have historically been ignored by mainstream media. I am hypnotized and inspired by authentic indie filmmakers like Barry Jenkins, Luca Guadagnino, Céline Sciamma, Emerald Fennell, Charlotte Wells, etc. I think humans are at their best when they step outside of their little bubbles, and open themselves up to feel and internalize the experience of another. Movies are beautiful, carefully-crafted audiovisual poems that inspire empathy and social transformation, and in a world where empathy can be hard to find, that is something I believe we should never take for granted.

Just as I could spend whole days in my childhood basement crafting characters for my dolls and building worlds, I know now that there is no place I belong more than on set. There is something so invigorating about collaboration with your fellow humans, from the gaffer to lead actress, all desperate to harness art to understand themselves and each other a little bit more. That is what cinema is to me.