As a multiracial and multicultural woman, it has been incredible to witness a shift in the film industry towards acknowledging and even praising diversity. This year's Academy Award nominations give me hope that stories from different perspectives are valued and worth investing in. I wish to be a part of this movement and to be given the opportunity to create films where I could express my aesthetic tastes, love of story, academic interests, and musical background, as well as a unique set of multicultural experiences that inform how I navigate the world and how I see it. I had never even thought that directing was a career I could pursue. In hindsight, my route into academia is inseparable from the expectations I felt to fulfil the role of the model minority. Lack of representation in the media is insidious, not only because it shapes how the world sees you, but it also seeps into one's sense of self and identity. Growing up in a country alien to both my parents, I became so accustomed to the faces around me that sometimes my own reflection took me off guard. However, at Georgetown University, I lived in a global community, surrounded by people with vastly different life stories. For the first time in my life, I was part of the majority, where the question 'where are you from?' didn't cause hesitation because we all understood that it wouldn't be a simple one-word answer, and that was okay. In our increasingly globalised world, multiracial identity is one of the fastest-growing minorities; now the US Vice-Presidency is filled by Kamala Harris, who is not only the first woman but also the first biracial person to fill this role. Furthermore, a recent survey by the Pew Research Centre reported that roughly 7% of US adults identified themselves as multiracial. However, multiracial identity has long been ignored; the US and UK census only allowed respondents to identify themselves by more than one ethnicity after the turn of the century. As one of the fastest-growing minorities, my experience of living in a world that seeks but struggles to identify you is a common one, yet so rarely seen in media. As a multicultural and multiracial person, I believe that representation both behind and in front of the camera is necessary to reveal the nuance of mixed identity and connect with a long-neglected audience. Much of who I am today, is a direct reaction to navigating the world as a mixed-race girl; from failing to find someone to dress up on Halloween to uncomfortable interaction with strangers frustrated at my inherent ambiguity. The whiplash from experiencing privilege in one moment to being stripped bare by a misaligned slur forced me to become aware of the harsh inequality that persists in the modern world far too young. Representation matters, not only by shaping the world's expectations, but it allows oppressed minorities to expand their ambitions and disentangle their own identity from external stereotypes. Hollywood is an inherently outward-facing industry, and where it goes, the world often follows. Storytelling in and of itself has immense power to create empathy and lessen the innate implicit biases we all inevitably learn by interacting with society. I believe that film is the ultimate vehicle for conveying what cannot be put into words alone, by translocating the audience into the intimate and subjective experience by somehow merging one's sense of self with another, so much so that a film can feel akin to recalling one's own memory.

Spike Jonze’s 'Her' is a love story set in the unspecified near-future of Los Angeles. The protagonist, Theodore Twombly exists in emotional purgatory after the recent dissolution of his marriage. He isolates himself from friends and is unfulfilled by his work until he ‘meets’ Samantha, an intuitive operating system, and falls in love with her. This film embodies the longing and desperation for intimacy, chronic in our age of technology. It isolates the protagonist through colour, depth of field and framing. Yet this is a warm look at the future where cold tones are absent, an idyllic utopia compared to the dark and desolate futures imagined in films such as Blade Runner and Planet of the Apes. Thus, despite the subject matter of artificial intelligence, Her feels uniquely human.

The Dreamers is a coming-of-age story about overcoming prejudice in the technological singularity. It unfolds in an ethereal forest at dawn, dusk and night, in the world of tomorrow where automation has obliterated the need for human labour. Freyja, a young, sleepless camp counsellor, stumbles into CalX, an artificially intelligent android. Together they laugh, explore what it means to be alive and the internal coding within us all. After CalX oversteps his role, demolition is imminent. Freyja attempts a great escape with CalX. However, they are doomed to fail. Built to be enslaved, the shackles that tether him to the confines of the camp cannot be unbound. In the end, Freyja stays with CalX, cradling his lifeless body as the sun rises. The Dreamers came from a fascination with what it means to be human when the classifications that define life seems increasingly arbitrary in the age of exponentially advancing technology and viral disease. Additionally, as a mixed-race person, the privilege I experience is constantly in flux, solely dependent on the perceptions of others. Much of this reality seeped into the script. For visual references, I draw upon Barry Jenkin’s Moonlight, particularly the beach scene between Chiron and Kevin, as well as the start of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, in the house of Amy Adam’s character where the frame is painted blues and purples. Tonally, I draw from films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Her and Lost in Translation. My ultimate goal is to delve into the boundaries of the medium to find innovative ways to reflect the human experience, to create the sort of films that move me and refuse to leave me alone; films like Alex Garland's 'Annihilation' and Spike Jonze's 'Her' which take a singular powerful concept and unravel it in a way that is profoundly emotional and human. Going forwards, I will upon the latest research to create art that reflects upon cutting-edge scientific discoveries. I am also constantly inspired by contemporary artists who hypnotise with light as their medium, such as Olafur Eliasson, James Turrel and Mary Corse. Sound design that is indistinguishable from the music score is particularly compelling. Additionally, after being exposed to the world of independent animation, I would love to experiment with how both digital and stop-motion animation could be brought together with elements of light art and sound manipulation in order to create highly subjective and imaginative scenes that elevate the sense of true immersion by blurring the lines between reality and delusion.

Chagall once said that "art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers – and never succeeding." After studying zoology for many years, all I can say is that somehow, from life, beauty evolved; or perhaps it was the appreciation of natural and unnatural forms that arose. It was the immense beauty of the natural world that once drove me to study it. Now, as I brace against the cutting edge of our understanding of life on a macro scale, the awe I feel towards the complex systems that underly everything we experience has grown immeasurably. Now, more than anything, I wish to create beauty of my own. Throughout my adolescence, I was classically trained in piano and immersed in the world of music; yet, I'm only beginning to understand the multitude of ways sound, particularly music beyond the western tradition, can affect our emotions on a primal level. After being accepted into an intense 3-year acting program, I learned how to grapple with dramatic text, understand action, objectives and obstacles in relation to character. Just before I entered university, I made my first film and fell in love with the medium. Film encompassed and irrevocably entwined everything that compelled me - story, performance, movement through time, colour, composition, sound and music - to create a sort of magic. My ultimate goal is to delve into the boundaries of the medium to find innovative ways to reflect the human experience, to create the sort of films that move me and refuse to leave me alone; films like Alex Garland's 'Annihilation' and Spike Jonze's 'Her' which take a singular powerful concept and unravel it in a way that is profoundly emotional and human. Going forwards, I will draw upon the latest research to create art that reflects upon cutting-edge scientific discoveries, look to contemporary artists who use light as their medium, and explore sound design that is indistinguishable from the music score. Additionally, after being exposed to the world of independent animation, I would love to experiment with how animation used to create highly subjective, imaginative, and immersive scenes. I have been immensely privileged to grow up in Scotland, where so much of my education has been supported by the government. The costs associated with going to an American university are somewhat incomprehensible. However, my brief time on exchange at Georgetown University was an extraordinary educational experience as the level of teaching I received was unparallel. Scholarships will be key to my transition away from a place with a much lower cost of living, where earnings are considerably lower when compared to both the US and the rest of the UK. However, I truly believe that going to CalArts to study Film Directing is key to getting my foot into the world of film.

Chagall once said that "art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers – and never succeeding." After studying zoology for many years, all I can say is that somehow, from life, beauty evolved; or perhaps it was the appreciation of natural and unnatural forms that arose. It was the immense beauty of the natural world that once drove me to study it. Now, as I brace against the cutting edge of our understanding of life on a macro scale, the awe I feel towards the complex systems that underly everything we experience has grown immeasurably. Now, more than anything, I wish to create beauty of my own. Throughout my adolescence, I was classically trained in piano and immersed in the world of music; yet, I'm only beginning to understand the multitude of ways sound, particularly music beyond the western tradition, can affect our emotions on a primal level. After being accepted into an intense 3-year acting program, I learned how to grapple with dramatic text, understand action, objectives and obstacles in relation to character. Just before I entered university, I made my first film and fell in love with the medium. Film encompassed and irrevocably entwined everything that compelled me - story, performance, movement through time, colour, composition, sound and music - to create a sort of magic. After I made my first film, a director told me that I should absorb everything and anything that I could get a hold of. In large part, I chose to remain in Scotland for university as they allowed students to take a few electives outside of one's chosen degree, and I was fascinated by so many disparate subjects. While most British students hardly ever diverge from the degree they choose at the age of 16, I pushed the higher Scottish education system to its limits. I sprinted between the humanities and science campus, taking extra classes in archaeology, physics, psychology, astrobiology and social anthropology. As I began to create my own work, I was increasingly able to draw inspiration from an immense range of ideas and concepts that I had been exposed to throughout my self-imposed liberal arts education. I eventually managed to sneak my way into a film studies course at the Edinburgh College of Art, and it was while I wrote the final essay that I had a revelation. The writing process was effortless, and I was so moved by the films I discussed that by the time I submitted it, I knew that I would do anything to create films like the ones I was writing about; films small and large, exploring the human condition in all its terrible beauty; from conceptual science- fiction to visceral arthouse. Edinburgh's independent film scene empowered me to start creating my own work. I first joined and later helped lead the Edinburgh Filmmaking Society. Through this active community of filmmakers, I had the opportunity to produce, shoot and edit various short films. It was in those hours, pouring over shaky footage alone in a dark room, that I truly got to feel like a filmmaker; piecing together unconnected shots in a way that felt deliberate and meaningful. Filmmaking required all of my acquired understanding of rhythm, character, framing and sound in a way that engaged all of me. I made the short-film Pilgrim during the global pandemic; thus, the idea of making a film from found footage initially arose from the circumstances and limitations of lockdown. I had previously discovered some fascinating archival footage stored in the University of Edinburgh’s video archive and wanted to utilise this resource. Looking back at Edinburgh’s video archive, I knew I wanted to make a film that looked at the world through the eyes of an alien who comes to Earth after receiving our first radio and television transmissions. I later wrote a rough script based on how I would write a scientific paper (e.g. introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusion). In doing so, the film became a poetic metaphor for the scientific process itself. I went to the internet in search of archival footage primarily from the 30s through to the 70s. I roughly knew what I was looking for, but I came across footage that shifted the film in different directions. My ultimate goal is to delve into the boundaries of the medium to find innovative ways to reflect the human experience, to create the sort of films that move me and refuse to leave me alone; films like Alex Garland's 'Annihilation' and Spike Jonze's 'Her' which take a singular powerful concept and unravel it in a way that is profoundly emotional and human. Going forwards, my undergraduate science degree means that I am able to draw upon the latest research to create art that reflects upon cutting-edge scientific discoveries. I am constantly inspired by contemporary artists who hypnotise with light as their medium, such as Olafur Eliasson, James Turrel and Mary Corse. Sound design that is indistinguishable from the music score is particularly compelling. Additionally, after being exposed to the world of independent animation, I would love to experiment with how both digital and stop-motion animation could be brought together with elements of light art and sound manipulation in order to create highly subjective, imaginative, and immersive experiences. As a multiracial woman, it has been incredible to witness a shift in the film industry towards acknowledging and even praising diversity. This year's Academy Award nominations gives me hope that stories from different perspectives are valued. I wish to be a part of this movement and to be given the opportunity to be a part of the creation of both small and large film projects where I would be able to express and utilise my aesthetic tastes, love of story, academic interests, musical background, obsession with colour as well as a unique set of multicultural experiences that inform both how I navigate the world and how I see it.