HOW IT STARTED

The fall of 2010 marked a pivotal moment—an unexpected high school experience that became the catalyst for everything “film” that followed.

One afternoon, purely by chance, I was hanging around the video lab during lunch when my instructor, Mr. Perez, ended a phone call that clearly had some energy behind it. He turned to me and, with a bit of intrigue, asked if I could come back the next day. Some friends of his, both film producers, were hoping to visit and pitch a wild idea.

The next day, Dana Glover and Michelle Robinson Carter arrived—enthusiastic, and focused. They introduced themselves as filmmakers who had spent the last seven years traveling to the South of France, attending the Cannes Film Festival as both creators and sellers. But this time, they wanted to do something different. Their pitch? To work with a group of high school students who would write, shoot, and edit a short film, raise the funds to support it, and bring the finished piece to Cannes in search of distribution.

That winter, we made it happen. A group of students were selected to lead departments, one screenplay was chosen after much discussion, and we filmed the project right in our local neighborhood. Through community support and determination, even making the local news with our story, we finished our short FALLEN, and raised enough money to send six students to France.

In February, we received our official acceptance into the Short Film Corner at Cannes. By May, we were boarding a 14-hour flight to the world’s biggest film festival for 5 days, ready to showcase our work and experience a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

THE REST IS SWEET,

SWEET HISTORY.

2025

I find myself revisiting this experience often. Nearly 15 years later, I still can’t quite wrap my head around how insane it was to be given such an extraordinary opportunity. At the time, I didn’t fully grasp the scale of it—but with distance and perspective, its impact feels profound.

While attending the festival, something clicked. Filmmaking started to feel less like a distant dream and more like a meaningful calling—something that, when done with intention, could genuinely resonate with the world. In that space surrounded by much ambition, I realized that when you pursue something with passion, patience, and a bit of wit, the impossible begins to feel remarkably close.

Just before the moment passed, I tried to pause and be fully present. I knew it was fleeting, but I wanted to honor it—so I reached for my phone and captured the moment, a quiet tribute to the feeling that maybe, just maybe, I was exactly where I was meant to be.