Multi talented ambitious filmmaker Kalia at just 13 has found her path. The young creative teenager, a California resident has quite a lot going on in her world but manages to pull through smoothly.
A lover of hardwork, she divides her time as a gymnast, plays the piano and also the flute in honor band and during her spare time she makes films aimed at women empowerment, according to The Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
Kalia hopes to leave a positive mark on the world and inspire young black girls through her film.
Although she’s just starting out, this inspiring talent has already warmed hearts through her determination and strength of purpose as evident in her maiden animation film, “Power of Hope,” an aspirational short film that strives to remind young adults — women in particular — that they can pursue their big dreams regardless of pre-existing or present circumstances, Face2Face reports.
In a chat with the site, Kalia throws more light:
“It’s about a girl who is trying to become an architect, but as she’s trying to reach her goal, a bunch of obstacles are getting in her way, so she tries to overcome those obstacles to reach her goal,” Jones said to The Santa Clarita Valley Signal. “I wanted to show the film through animation because it felt like the best way to engage people my age, but I also really love animation.”
On starting out, just like anything worthwhile, challenges poppped up and she encountered a lot of “nos” from people who didn’t want to take chances working with a 13-year-old, but she proved she could defy the odds just like the message preached in her film.
“It didn’t seem like a lot of people wanted to work with [me], so finding people took a really long time,” Jones said. “We had to email people and go out to colleges.”
A determined Jones wasn’t going to hand in the gloves, in order to make her ideas come to life she worked odd jobs, recycled for family and friends, and even saved her earnings to help produce her film. It worked, she received about a dozen email responses from willing participants and the rest is history.
“I started with the idea, writing the story and creating the characters,” Jones told The Santa Clarita Valley Signal.
The teenager during the chat revealed her favorite women leaders including Rebecca Sugar, Ava DuVernay, Oprah, and even Michelle Obama, who directly inspires the main character served as inspiration for the film’s storyline
As the film’s director, Jones oversaw the creative aspects of production as well as made sure to visualize her script well enough to direct the animator and bring her vision to life including co-wrote the film’s theme song with Grammy-nominated producer, Ben Franklin.
Well done!
