Alumni Blog: Mina Huang

Recent graduate Mina Huang’s thesis film Hobby has been selected to screen at SVA’s After School Special this weekend (along with alumni Maura Garnett). Here Mina writes an alumni blog about finding inspiration for her story while on a shoot with fellow classmates.

Hobby is a film that is very dear to me.

The film follows a young girl named Ivy (Emma Pearson) who is suddenly at a loss for what to do when her older sister Jane (Vivien Morrison) makes a new friend at school. As her sister’s attention drifts from her, so do her interests, and Ivy finds her routine disrupted. Ivy must decide whether she will continue to pursue her love of horses or move on. But in her lowest moments, she discovers a new hobby.

I am so proud of how far this film has come. Originally I planned on making an entirely different film. I wanted to make a film about my experience being a twin without all the clichés of long-lost siblings and switching places. However, I struggled with the storyline because it became something so personal to me. After months of agonizing over it, I decided to shelve my idea.

While tucked away in the corner that is Rochester for a documentary shoot, I felt pretty dejected after throwing away an idea I had tried to make work for so long. And it was there while lodging in a room filled with baby dolls that I scrolled to a video about hobby horsing. I showed it to my producers, Anja Huang and Hsi Cheng, who were both coincidentally in Rochester with me, and they told me to “go for it.”

My previous story lacked a plot.

So I made a short film about a pair of sisters and their shared love for horses instead. Ivy’s struggle to accept her sister’s new interests is partly inspired by my own experience. Like Ivy, I felt left behind. However, although change is a bitter pill to swallow, I wanted this film to convey the positive things that may come out of it. It could be something surprising and exciting.

Another issue we faced was the scheduling. My casting director, Sabrina Zoe Geffner, had to rally up kids to pose as competitors on a school day, which was a challenge in itself. We also were unsure how many days we needed to shoot, especially with Vivien (Jane) having to fly in from Ohio, so we were trying to figure out how it would work with her time, too.

In the true spirit of filmmaking, we persevered.

I shot for five-days in the last week of February. My production design team, Zixia Cheng and Lindsey De Leon, made a hobby horse from scratch! I will be forever thankful to them for that. It was so much fun working with my young cast, who brought so much energy on set. My thesis advisor, Gina Abatemarco, who helped me pull together the story, had a fun little cameo, too!

I am beyond honored that my thesis film has been selected for the After School Special! On September 27th, we will be revisiting the SVA Theatre with several other amazing films made by SVA’s alumni. I hope to see you at there this Friday, whether you would like to watch Hobby again or I have now piqued your interest. This film is my homage to sisterhood and girlhood, but I really believe anyone can enjoy it. Hobby has also recently been selected for the New York Shorts International Film Festival in early October. Please keep an eye out for that, too!