By Leah Veldhuisen’19
CC graduate Brendan Young ’14 recently finished his film “Junction,” which focuses on basketball on the Navajo reservation. The inspiration for the film came when Young visited Chinle, Arizona, at the suggestion of a CC friend, Isaac Salay ’16, who was born there. Salay mentioned that Young should check out a basketball game in Chinle, and Young says he indeed was blown away by the love and passion for basketball he found there.
After the first visit, Young made five two-week trips to work on the film, which he finished editing last December. “Junction” has since been an official selection at five film festivals, including the Portland Film Festival and the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. In Santa Fe, the main character, Baa, and her family were fortunately able to attend the showing.
Young credits CC with his understanding the importance of acknowledging coexisting perspectives, which he explains “is crucial to telling empathetic stories.” He adds that Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies Clay Haskell emphasized the importance of trusting the process.
“Filmmaking takes total commitment, and projects or visions can work out really well or they can tank, but if you stay true to your purpose, the process leads to great filmmaking,” Young explains. The film will be playing at Doc NYC from Nov. 8-15, and Young hopes it will be at more film festivals this winter. You can watch it on Vimeo. Although he works on commercial filmmaking as well, Young has a future project in the works with another CC alumnus.
