Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

I’m a filmmaker through and through. For me, it’s all about poetic cinema, films that don't just tell a story but create a specific mood. I make films that feel like moving canvases.I love working with visual metaphors and a 'painterly' look on screen, using shadow and texture to capture feelings that dialogue usually can't.

Where do you find inspiration?

I live surrounded by Baroque replicas. My goal is to eventually have no empty space left on my walls. I study these pieces to understand their composition, like the lighting in the Penitent Mary Magdalene, which became the blueprint for one of my recent films. My latest short, Night of Melancholia, born from a single blue-inspired painting; I wanted to see if I could translate that heavy grief into a cinematic experience. I'm excited to see it head to NYSFF and the Big Apple Film Festival soon.

What would you do with $25,000?

I’d complete my "indie filmmaker package." I am currently writing a sci-fi drama feature that requires a high-end workstation for VFX and my own cinema camera. These tools would allow me to stop waiting for permission and start producing the ambitious, visual stories I have in development. This prize would be the foundation for my first feature film, bridging the gap between my short works and my professional future.