Filmmaking Alum Lands Fellowship at Prestigious AFI in Hollywood

 

Julia Freij.

The film program at the Center for Arts and Media is known for turning out graduates who find steady work in the industry – that’s kind of a big deal by itself. Occasionally, however, a burgeoning filmmaker’s next step after Salt Lake Community College winds up being a quantum leap.

In what could be the biggest break of her creative career, SLCC filmmaking alum Julia Freij was recently accepted as a fellow at the American Film Institute Conservatory (AFI) in California’s Hollywood Hills. “It’s just the most amazing opportunity,” says Julia, who graduated in 2018 with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Film Production Technician. “I just need my foot in the door – and then, if I do that, there will be so many other doors.”

AFI is ranked in the top three or four film schools in the United States along with University of Southern California and New York University. Thousands of aspiring filmmakers apply to AFI each year from all over the world. Relatively few (there are about 120 fellows in Julia’s class) are awarded the coveted two-year fellowships for AFI’s producing, editing, cinematography, screenwriting, production design and highly competitive directing tracks. Only a few SLCC students have been admitted to AFI over the years – Julia is the first female, and the first to be accepted for the directing track. So, getting in is a big deal, and it reflects well on SLCC.

“I think for institutions everywhere, the best recruiting tool is peer-to-peer,” says Nick Burns, SLCC associate dean for Communication & Performing Arts. “I think when the word gets out that students here have this kind of success, the programs sell themselves.”

Like a lot of students starting out in college, Julia’s academic path in 2012 as a new SLCC student was uncertain. Maybe she’d major in English, she thought. And then she took Channing Lowe’s introductory course in film. “It opened my eyes to the fact that filmmaking is not exclusive,” she says. That did it. She was hooked. Filmmaking would become her medium for wanting to tell stories, in an artful way.

Tyler Smith (l-r), David Lehleitner, Julia, Channing Lowe and Nick Burns.

Sitting together with Julia, 27, in the college’s 3,000-square-foot film stage at SLCC’s South City Campus, her former instructors Tyler Smith, David Lehleitner and Channing all agree on one strength of their former student – her passion. Tyler recalls that Julia came into his documentary production course wanting to make a film about Palestine – she is half Italian, half Palestinian. “I saw passion from Day One,” Tyler says. “I’m just grateful they didn’t dismiss me as a psychopath,” Julia jokes. Everyone laughs. 

Passionate about her art. Confident. Knowledgeable. A great networker. Reads people well. Trusting of skilled filmmaking teammates. They’re all qualities that those who are now Juila’s colleagues use to describe her. “She has the ability and knowledge to pull together a film,” Channing says. “She’s a very talented director, and she’s able to choose the right people to work on a project – that’s where she’s been fantastic.” Julia, like all students in the same program at SLCC, very quickly was able to handle some of the best cameras and equipment available to professional filmmakers, learning in-demand technical skills, creating and making films.

While at SLCC, the college, along with the Utah Film Center, connected Julia with an opportunity to intern with filmmakers during the 10-day Sundance Film Festival – she got to hang with “This Is Home” director Alexandra Shiva. As a student, Julia completed several short films that now help get her noticed on her IMDb page. Even after she graduated from SLCC, Julia continued to find support from the college as an “independent study” student through access to resources, equipment and instruction while she worked on more projects. “I love SLCC, and I will always preach its glory,” Julia says.

AFI fellows who have a bachelor’s degree can graduate with a master’s in one of the six disciplines. With her associate’s degree from SLCC, Julia is gunning for an AFI certificate of completion, which will culminate in a finished film that she will be able to submit to film festivals. Plenty of AFI alums have gone on to achieve success and notoriety – Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David Lynch (Dune), Rachel Morrison (Mudbound), Mimi Leder (On the Basis of Sex), Edward Zwick (Legends of the Fall) to name a few. Not bad company.

Julia starts at AFI in the fall. Just a few words of advice. David tells her not to change. “Don’t lose your momentum,” Tyler says. Channing isn’t sure what to add, “Because I want advice from her,” he deadpans. They all say (cleaning up the language for print) not to be a jerk. Julia flashes a knowing smile.

In five years, Julia hopes to be following in the footsteps of her favorite female director, Andrea Arnold, writing and directing her way toward her first feature film. Her future is about that foot in the proverbial door. “I just need to stick it in the door, then make the right choices and be a good person,” she says. “I just think that being a good person will get you places.”