Payton McKemie

For most of my life, I have always enjoyed spending time learning about new things and taking the opportunity to expand my own perspective with the perspectives of others. This curiosity culminated into an obsessive exploration of film, and history as I got older.

Through these mediums, I have been able to expand my own understanding of the world and the way that I perceive it. And on top of gaining an understanding for myself, I have always loved being able to share the knowledge I’ve learned with others. While on a trip to France when I was fifteen years old I loved being able to spout all the things I had learned about French history in my French and history classes. My sister may not have appreciated the constant descriptions but the ability to share that information is what brings me enjoyment.

Film has always been a subject of interest for me and being able to explore foreign films and movies that precede my life has helped bring me the understanding I wouldn’t have had otherwise. My friends and I would often watch movies and then have discussions afterward about all of the possibilities of meaning and purpose that could have been in the film. In my French classes in highschool a huge focal point of the class was exploring the history of France through film. While textbooks can describe the events that happened in a country, only a film can describe the true human emotions that were felt during the time. Only a film can describe what it meant to be alive in those countries at that time and because of that my exploration of these mediums has always continued to extend and flourish.