You recently won the Best New Filmmaker award at the Nantucket Shorts Festival. What does the award mean to you and your future career?

I have always really been in love with filming and editing, so this means a lot to me. [Winning the award shows] me that professional video editing and filmmaking could actually take part in my future [and tells] me I should continue.

How did you get into filmmaking?

Both of my parents are photographers, so I’ve always been around editing and that type of art form. I have seen videos on YouTube that I have found interesting and a challenge to recreate; I started by editing characters’ dances on a video game. I still am doing that for my own entertainment and practice. Also, in first grade, I did a stop motion project during COVID-19 that was based off of Marcel the Shell. I made my own little shell out of Barbie shoes and buttons.

What do you hope to accomplish?

I hope to make filmmaking a career, and hopefully take a class or go to college for it.

Now that you’ve completed this film, what plans do you have for the future in terms of filmmaking?

I have a plan to enter the film festival again next year to get my films seen by the community. And make my already existing YouTube channel more popular and known.

Who do you look up to in the industry and why?

There is one small YouTuber that I look up to. She is a young creator, and she does have 300 more subscribers than me and is a bit older than me. She makes the same edit form that I do, we like the same games, and we go back and forth commenting on each other’s posts—hyping each other up and giving each other support.