Abby Wolf staff writer
From watching old movies with her film-loving family to creating award winning short films, motion pictures were always a part of junior Georgia Evensen’s day-to-day life. 
Her family, especially her grandfather, a movie critic, sparked Evensen’s interest in filmmaking. 
“I’ve been watching movies all my life,” she said. “When I was younger I watched a lot of older movies and that really got me interested in filmmaking.”
Evensen began her movie making journey at 6-years-old when her brother was born.   
“[Georgia] would make stop action movies with dolls…She would take hundreds of photographs and then she would put them into an editing program and make them into these little movies,” Evensen’s mother, Molly Corey, said. 
As Evensen grew older, her love for watching movies turned into a passion for creating her own films. She began entering her short films into contests, one in particular being the annual PTA Reflections contest, where she won second place on a national level in seventh grade. Last year, Evensen won again, this time second place statewide. 
The first piece Evensen entered into the Reflections contest went along with the theme of “My story.” Her film followed a honeybee, while a song about the beauty of being a honeybee played in the background. As the song played, a poem, written by Evensen about the “dark-reality of honeybees [and] how they are reaching extinction,” appeared on the screen. 
The second piece that she entered during her sophomore year followed the theme “look within.” Her short film depicted a young girl transporting from one area to another, symbolizing teenagers’ lack of noticing the world around them. 
“These were pieces that she felt very happy about turning in and she was proud of them…so I was proud of her,” Corey said. 
One of Evensen’s favorite parts about her filmmaking process is the editing she does after taking all her shots.
“I love how satisfying it is to put it all together, all the clips you worked so hard to take…especially…when you finally get to see your idea come to life,” Evensen said.
Evensen integrated film into other aspects of her life by creating the BHHS Film Society for other film-loving high schoolers.
“I just love watching movies and analyzing them so I decided to make a club where we could…find a community of people that love analyzing films and making films,” Evensen said.
In the future, Evensen plans on following this passion for filmmaking into a career, specifically as a filmmaker, editor or director.
Evensen explained that her love for film is rooted in the idea that film does not have to “adhere to [a] strict plot.”
“Literally…anything in your life can be a film, as long as you have…[a] purpose behind it,” Evensen said.