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In four years at UVA, Mia Gualtieri (’23) built a portfolio she hopes will enable her to land a job in the film industry. It started with a year-long class called Overcranked in which she wrote and directed her own narrative short film. Tug, a story of neighborly love and reparations, was included in the 2022 Virginia Film Festival. “It was very cool to have it in VFF because I spent a long time away from that film, and then returning to it and watching it with a different audience was awesome,” Mia said.

Mia continued her filmmaking pursuits with work on several small local projects including music videos for local Charlottesville artists. “I'm at a stage where I'm reaching out to artists who I really like or asking mutual friends. It's a grind of making as much stuff as I can for practice and continuing to develop my voice,” she said. She finds she must be a strong advocate for herself in the competitive world of entertainment and spent last summer talking to, learning from, and offering her assistance to various directors, set managers, and others in the directorial world of Los Angeles. She plans to return to California, taking advantage of the groundwork she laid as she searches for new professional opportunities and forges her own Hollywood success story.