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Waiting For My Close-up: A Teenager Prepares For Her Future In Film

JeDawn Wilson
Basim Blunt
/
WYSO
JeDawn Wilson

Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to win an Oscar for Best Director for her film "The Hurt Locker," and that's a big deal if you're a young woman looking for inspiration as an aspiring filmmaker. 

My name’s JeDawn, and I’m a senior at Ponitz CTC. My goal in life is to entertain people with movies.

I grew up watching a lot of movies at home with my three older brothers, and of course my parents. It’s actually better to watch movies at home because it can be paused and you can interpret what’s going on better. Even though none of my family is as interested in the entertainment industry like me, they still support my writing. My favorite genres are science fiction and fantasy. I get so involved in movies that I binge watch movies over the weekends.

A lot of people don’t know that there aren’t a lot of women directors in the film industry. People can list male directors like Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee, without even thinking about it. How many female directors can you list on both your hands?

One day over the summer, I was kind of bored so I decided to research and I came across this article and it talked about how there aren’t that many women in the film industry. And I was honestly pretty shocked about this because as many movies as I watch, I wasn’t even aware of this information. Only one woman has won an award for winning best movie director, that woman was Kathryn Bigelow. Finding this out made me feel disappointed. Out of all the movies made in America, only one woman in the country won for best film director? Knowing this about the film industry makes me very sad. It makes me question things like, “How is this possible?” “Why aren’t women getting recognized?” “What does that say about this field?”

Kathryn Bigelow once said “If there’s a specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can’t change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies.”

After high school I plan on going to college to study film and creative writing. Those are two things I am very passionate about.  My top three colleges to study film are Wright State, Baldwin Wallace and Taylor University. I’ll be happy with these three colleges because they all provide really good film programs. I want to learn everything there is to know about filmmaking.

My first official movie would be one of my stories. It’s about identical boy twins named Demetrius and Dominic. Dominic dies in the womb and Demetrius survives. Ever since being in the womb Demetrius has the ability to talk to his brother telepathically and see him. The movie would be called The Supernatural Twins because their powers are beyond human understanding.

Women deserve equal recognition. When you have a dream you shouldn’t let anyone tell you or make you feel like you’re not good enough. You have the power to make a difference.

JeDawn Wilson is a senior at Ponitz CTC High School. Special Thanks to Ponitz Radio media arts instructors Joanne Viskup and Jeffrey Crowell and to Katie Davis. Learn more at the school's website: http://ponitzctc.org. Dayton Youth Radio is supported by the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council.

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