About a year and a half ago, I scrambled together my musical short film, A World Within, for my application to USC Film and TV production. Since it’s Pride Month, I wanted to share it here with some backstory.
Once upon a time during senior year, I was in a rush to the lunch line and threw my backpack at a random table. The table was a group of guys in my grade who I’d usually never interact with. As I traversed through the lunch lines, I watched them all relocate to another table. I ate alone, then came home and wrote this film.
However, A World Within is not a film about getting called a slur, it is not a film about internalized and externalized homophobia, it is not a film about feeling victimized and alienated. Instead, A World Within is a film about hope, the future, the beauty we carry within, and the desires and fantasies in our minds that sometimes trap us from moving forward.
Since graduating from high school, I have grown into a much happier person and found a truly amazing community at USC—a school I thought I’d NEVER get into. Now, I feel like I belong.
For me, A World Within was also about being brave. Learning how to sing for the first time, writing my own songs, and figuring out how to do it all myself. I wouldn’t have had the courage to make this film without the support of my close friends and family, who always supported who I was, as well as my amazing art teachers, who always believed in me.
And a special thank you to Margaret
@margaretenchanten for teaching me how to play the cello and always inspiring musical creativity.
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! 🏳️🌈
#pride
