By Olivia Ritchie

  Elena Andollo always had a deep passion for filmmaking, from since she was a little kid until now as a senior in high school. Elena is a senior at Ponte Vedra High School (PVHS), and over the course of her four years she put all her effort into her academics in order to pursue her dream at the highest level. She soon will be at New York University (NYU) for film making. “I’ve been in the film/entertainment world my whole life; I did theater in kindergarten as well as attended modeling camp. I eventually got signed by an agent and for the next few years acted in mainly commercial and short film work,” said Elena. One of the reasons Elena is so passionate about film isn’t just from the experience she has in that community from a young age, but as well as the creative freedom she finds in it. She says that film allows her to express what she may be thinking or feeling for everyone to see an understand.

  While one of the most admirable parts of film is all the mediums and communities that are needed in a project, Elena admits that the cinematography of film is what has captured her heart the most. “I see past story and plot a lot in the projects I work on. Not that story isn’t important, but its more so how you can work with a very simply storyline and make it so much more with the right cinematography,” said Elena. For example, Elena’s final project for her precollege film program for NYU called ‘Chere Mere’, which is French for “Dear Mother” is a short film about girl reading a letter addressed to her mother of all the criticism she faced from her mother over the years, and the emotional scars it left on her. From face value it’s a very straight forward plot, but Elena uses her skills in cinematography to add sensory details to bring more weight to what this girl felt from her mother. From the colors, the audio, the music, the close ups, and the fade-out shots, all these aspects allow the watcher to feel the dread and sadness, the girl felt because of her mother.

“As long as I’m doing what I love I won’t mind too much.”

Elena Andollo

  Elena was accepted into the precollege film program for NYU over the 2022 summer. The program was a month long, and while Elena did the program online due to COVID-19. This program normally allows students to go stay on campus and make films from there to get a more hands on experience. “Every single day you are required to get on meetings with professors and students, as well as do a lot of group work and we had a handful of video assignments every week,” stated Elena. While that sounds like a demanding schedule, Elena rather enjoyed it, because it is something she is so passionate about. She described it as something that wasn’t so much difficult rather just different.

  NYU is a very esteemed university especially for film, producing iconic figures in the film world today like Jon Watts, Chris Columbus, and Rachel Morrison just to name a few.  “It’s very surreal for me. I’ve always wanted to pursue film to the highest level and although I haven’t even started yet its still amazing to think I’m going to be moving from a fairly small area in Florida where I have lived my whole life to one of the most if not the most iconic place in the world for something I love,” said Elena. A filmmaker that Elena looks up to the most is Ingmar Bergman a Swedish film director, who is widely considered as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. Most of his work was meant for the watcher to look inward and face struggles of the “psyche and soul.” Elena finds inspiration in Bergman’s work through his innovational style and influence around the world.

  Of course, moving far from family and starting a new chapter is something Elena is worried about, but her family has been nothing but supportive in her film making journey. Elena knows the hard work she is going to have to put in, but as Elena has said before: “As long as I’m doing what I love I won’t mind too much.”