Directors Statement

“Why I Am an Anarchist” is the story of a wannabe-activist teenage girl who, in a desperate attempt to expose everyone else’s hypocrisy, loses sight of her own. Angela cares deeply, but also takes herself too seriously, a trait I find ripe for comedy and love to explore in the young, hard-headed feminine characters I write.

I am drawn to stories about misfits, outsiders, and those on the fringes of society, but it’s only in the last few years that I’ve realized that my sensibility in telling their stories is more aligned with comedy – particularly ironic and satirical comedies. Feeling misunderstood is an isolating experience, but unique and bizarre observations and points-of-view are born from isolation. It wasn’t until I started making films that I realized how funny some of my most painful experiences actually are. It’s only fitting that my thesis film for NYU’s Graduate Film program explores these themes in the strange place I grew up.

I have two completed feature film scripts: both comedic, and both take place in my home state of Arizona, so “Why I Am an Anarchist” is an opportunity to explore using that particular environment for comedic effect. The Arizona desert is a place of extremes: visually, ideologically, and environmentally. I’m excited to explore the dichotomy of Angela and Gabriel’s worlds on screen; of the desert wilds and the air-conditioned McMansions, and homelessness and wealth. There is an undeniable strangeness to my home state, and to the people who inhabit it.

“Why I Am an Anarchist” takes on other extremes, as well: of advocacy and apathy through a lens of youth. Angela is full of conviction and contradiction, and a lot of the humor comes from her broad and often unexpected swings from feelings of hopelessness, to real advocacy for change, to the performance of social media activism. 

I want the experience of watching this film to crackle like a peyote fever, to hang heavy like the heat. The tone is peculiar, unsentimental, and funny, which will be emphasized through the production design and camera language. The film is a house of mirrors: we recognize the world of “Why I Am an Anarchist'' as our own, but everything is a little heightened and distorted.  Pushing the visual style towards the uncanny will allow the story to breathe into its existentialism and humor, embracing the vastness of the landscape and allowing opportunities for visual surprises to appear in the frame. 

This film is my homage to this bizarre place, an absurdist Southwestern Gothic, and an experiment in tone, performance, and style. My hope is to wrangle the cinematic tools I’ve learned through my studies at NYU’s Grad Film to capture the chaos, humor, and beauty of what it feels like to grow up in one of the most extreme landscapes in America. 

“Why I Am an Anarchist” is about someone who claims that they want to change the world, but ultimately would rather that others see them as someone who wants to change the world, than actually do the work of trying to change it.