Meet Flagler Student and Filmmaker Alexa Wint

By Joshua Noel | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Filmmaking may be one of the most stressful, yet rewarding career of all time. Film directors are expected to know and endure every step of the craft, whether that be writing out the concept to a screenplay, finding and casting the perfect characters for the film, pulling a crew together, understanding what goes into a shot from camera settings to lens selection, understanding the editing process along with sound design, visual effects, and color correction. The list goes on forever.

Clearly, becoming a film director requires dedication and a lot of passion. For Junior Alexa Wint, having those traits of dedication and passion is what fuels her drive to becoming a full-fledged Hollywood director. Wint is currently directing a short film and she describes the story to be “about a detective who encounters her childhood friend who is psychic and she convinces him to help her find a missing girl,” says Wint.

Wint has had her mind set on the world of filmmaking ever since she was fifteen years old. “I love telling stories and I have a deep desire to influence the world, the best way to go about this, for me, is making movies,” she says.

Wint is the type of filmmaker that wants to change the world. To drive her case even more she says, “I’m really into human rights, equality and things like that, I feel like there isn’t enough female or minority representation in front of or behind the camera and that needs to change. I want to be apart of that change, I want to inspire girls the way Katherine Bigalow inspires me to goafter my dream.”

The road of being a filmmaker is open to tell stories however film directors want, however filmmakers like Wint want to use the power of storytelling to change the world.

Wint is currently in production for her first fiction film, with a release coming this year. Typically when filmmakers make their first film of this variety, they feel uncomfortable and may break down under the stress of making a film, but not Wint. “Being under that kind of pressure is a rush I love and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she says.

Lucky filmmakers usually have a little help from their crew, which makes everything flow a little more easily. Wint says, “My crew was awesome I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. The crew was calm and they took direction well, and ultimately, they helped me get exactly what I wanted, I also liked how they threw some of their own suggestions and creativity into it.”

Making films is always an experience and no matter how much a filmmaker produces films, they will always learn something from each film. Based on her first experience making a narrative fiction short film, Wint says, “follow your own artistic instinct, if there is a vision you have, fulfill that vision no matter what anyone tells you. Pick a good team, production is teamwork and you want people who will make you look good and that generate a smooth work environment. And make your talent feel good. But most importantly I’ve learned this is all I want to do for the rest of my life.”

As for Wint, she will continue to make films in pursuit of her dream of becoming a Hollywood director. In ten years, moviegoers might see Wint winning an Oscar for best director. As Wint says, “Dream big or go home.”