My friends! Life has been incredibly busy lately! If you’re in Portland, Oregon, you should go to the Region One screening for the Student Academy Awards. Yours truly has been nominated as a Finalist for ‘Can We Be Happy Now’! *EXPLODES* This will be a free public screening on Wednesday, April 24, beginning at 6 PM at the Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium (inside the Portland Art Museum at 1219 SW Park Avenue, Portland, OR).

‘Can We Be Happy Now‘ adventures on, winning a Best Animated Short prize from my hometown, Fallbrook, and a trip to North Carolina to present with a kajillion wonderful student filmmakers. Another rapidly-approaching screening is at the International Family Film Festival on the 5th, if you’re in Hollywood! (I’m sorry to say that I won’t be there). And if you’re in Toronto, you can see it in late July!

It’s quite an honor to win a prize for animation from my hometown!

A big shock was receiving a copy of the local paper, the Village News, to find my face on the front page! This really delightful article was written up about my film and musing on the local wildlife for inspiration.

Also, my late-highschool-early-college mentor, Dr. Lori Miller, wrote a lovely article about our relationship and how mentorship can truly direct an individual to reaching their goals. I’m really thankful for all the guidance I had on my journey from surviving highschool to conquering college and living a life of blissful animation!

The amazing folks at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, hosted the fantastic film festival and conference, Visions, where I was super fortunate to be among many wonderful filmmakers whose films were selected from their undergrad. We reveled in a cornucopia of filmmaking, from animation to documentaries and bizarre sci-fi eyecandy and deep drama. So many wonderful friends were made here, including the talented Bridget, who was my roomie — who was roomies with my roomie’s roomie. DID YOU GET THAT?! The universe imploded and then spat itself out again; only her amazing diagram can explain the magnitude of this crazy coincidence. Go look at the rest of her blog, while you’re at it! Here’s us (Bridget’s in the middle), along with Brianna, who was our super-enthusiastic crazy fun driver/guide/new friend!

Can I just say that filmmakers are some of my very favorite breeds of people?! SO MUCH TALENT IN THESE PICTURES.

The next screening will take place at the Pickford Theater of Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, CA for the International Family Film Festival. The screening is at 2:30 on the 5th of May, and tickets are available here for $10. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend.

TAAFI will take place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, from July 26-28th. Hello, Canada!