For some of us, there is a love so great, that it eclipses our lives and becomes an integral part of who we are; and for Aidan Anderson that love is Film. As he puts it, “Films have raised me along with my parents”.  While other kids played football and skipped rope Aidan sat entranced by a bright screen in a dark room. George R.R. Martin says, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.” A quote that is not only true for the bibliophile but the cinephile as well. For film also has the power to entrance, to captivate and to introduce us to a thousand lives .  Aidan has realized this and as the first act of his adolescence comes to a close, the next act, the pursuit of a career in the film industry beckons and winks.

That spark of life, that passion for an industry, a career, a cause, a direction that each of us is chasing, Aidan Anderson already has.  Yet the path he is now taking to film school was not always so clear, his interest in pursuing film was developed here at Capital High School. Mr. Derek, an English teacher that worked previously here at Capital, helped encourage Aidan in his writing of screenplays. However, film is not the only thing that Aidan has done in high school; he has played tennis, been part of the biking team and been heavily involved in the cousin of film, theatre.  

The theatre program is where Aidan truly had a chance to be part of a production from virtually every aspect; from tech crew, to actor, to writer/director of his own play at drama fest.  It was in the theatre program where he learned valuable lessons that he said taught him a lot, not just about theatre but about film and life as well. His efforts to cultivate his acting abilities, which at first didn’t come naturally have ended with him having two main parts in this year’s spring musical. His dedication to improvement in virtually all aspects of his life and his grit are inspiring, and are evident in his years in the highschool theatre program. Aidan went from being part of the ensemble to leading roles and from tech crew to director/writer of his own play at Drama Fest.

This is why anyone who knows Aidan, also knows that he will conquer this next part of his life with this same grit and dedication he has demonstrated during his Highschool years. This next fall Aidan will be attending a year and half long program at San Francisco Film School, a vocational school where he will learn the skills he needs to make a career for himself in the industry. At the school he will be taking classes that range from the technical to the ones that debate the psychology of filmmaking. However in the meantime, you will most likely find Aidan  in a dark room with a bright screen enjoying the art of film . For as he says, continuing to watch films is what’s most important to his career, quoting Tarantino, “When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, ‘no, I went to films”.