Why care about the movies? It's a question that I, a film major in his third year, asked myself all the way back in sophomore year of high school. Quite frankly, it was a question that would take years for me to fully answer. Despite the quick development of my affection for the cinema, I couldn't nail right away why movies were so important to me.

It was in my high school years that I discovered that I really, really loved talking about movies. The craftsmanship, the writing, everything was engrossing and endlessly fascinating. But liking film just because it's fun to talk about? That couldn't be the only reason why it could be considered important. I had to dig deeper. I had to stop dipping my toes in the shallow end of the water and go a bit bolder.

My senior year of high school was when I made my second short film, which was made with animated frames. Like my first short film, it was very amateurish, but there was a difference with this one: the story. Centered on the passage of time, growing up and remembering one's roots, this film really resonated with me. About to venture out into the college world, I connected with that 2-D character I had as the main character of my film. The animation and the craft were not perfect...but the essence. The essence was there.

It dawned upon me. The answer to my question.

I found eventually that I loved film because film is all of us. It in all its many forms connects to something that makes us human and, through an inspired concoction of sound, visuals and writing, communicates this "something" through a distinct, one-of-a-kind medium. And my appreciation for film went even deeper than that.

For me, a typically quiet person, film became a means of opening myself up to others. Whether making it or discussing it, I had something to motivate me to be more extroverted. Moreover, I had a calling, a passion that I could use to express myself and my ideas.

I discovered how much I liked to write stories at around the same time I discovered my love of film. I spent many hours thinking about worlds outside my own, lives besides my own, story worlds worth exploring. It took no time at all for my career goal--becoming a screenwriter--to manifest.

With my newfound goal in mind, all the time that I'd spent dreaming about stories and other worlds actually went somewhere. To this day, I'm still writing, trying to get better and better until one day, hopefully, I get to go to Hollywood.

No, film isn't as earth-shattering as scientific discoveries or political milestones. It's not going to answer questions about the universe. It probably won't change the world. But what it can do is teach us things. It has the potential to connect us. The capability to show us something extraordinary, something we'd never see anywhere else but the silver screen. And to me, it is an art that allows me to show who I am and be myself.

I love film because it is an art built on burgeoning imagination and the ideas we all share. Nothing about that love is going to change.