In my final year at Ithaca College, I am writing and directing my own large-scale thesis film. I will spend the spring semester in Los Angeles working within the professional film industry. Until then, I have been finding new and different ways to get involved with different areas of media, working on a multitude of student film sets and productions. I focus half on children's animated short films and half on horror films, both of which are available online.
Through the Park Scholar Program, I am continuing to co-facilitate Device Advice, tleading the group providing technology literacy tutoring to residents of retirement homes in Ithaca. I am also working on my own school resource, which I created, that helps all non-male film majors of the Park School find jobs on student film sets in an effort to increase production gender diversity and combat sexism within the school.
Outside of Ithaca, I carry out political work with activist groups that fight for voter registration in Texas, where I went to high school. Last year, I wrote for Flaunt Magazine in Los Angeles, where I also worked in person for a few months. During my time there, I covered various media events and fashion events and interviewed famous actors, musicians, and other successful artists. I spent the most recent summer working as a production assistant on the Amazon Prime television show, Harlem , in New York City. It was through this that I got to experience firsthand the professional film environment and learn about the industry.
I am thrilled to see what the rest of my time at Ithaca College has in store and am deeply thankful for all the program has brought me.
Surina Belk-Gupta
