Ashley Carey is well on her way to becoming a film director. Originally from Canton, Michigan, the 22-year-old Central Michigan University junior has already begun directing her first film.

            Much of her early inspiration came from her high school teacher George Buhro who introduced her to the world of media production. Carey and Buhro worked together with the media productions program at her high school and produced the school’s media, including educational and entertainment video programming. Carey later became station manager during her junior and senior year. Eventually, Buhro helped Carey become involved in a trade school program while still in high school. During this program, Carey studied the works of Alfred Hitchcock, who later became an inspiration in her filmmaking.

            Her current inspirations include director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who directed The Revenant. She claims that he is constantly directing challenging content, which is something that Carey admires and aims to practice. She also says her favorite movies are The Theory of Everything and The Good Lie, since they both bring new light to small stories. Through her directing, Carey wants to make her audience feel emotion and gain new perspective. She is inspired by true stories, and wants to use her directing skills to share them with the world.

            Upon graduating high school, Carey eventually found herself at Central Michigan University where she continues to pursue her passion in film. She works making news videos for CMLIFE, the school’s news media organization. She also participates in the Film Society, where she has recently been elected president, and Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity rooted in leadership service and excellence. She helps with events such as the Central Michigan International Film Festival, which occurs every February. Carey has participated in many of the production of films shot on campus over the past two years such as Here Kitty Kitty and Tundra. However recently, she has written a script of her own and is in the process of directing and producing it.

            The project is titled The Election, and is a fictional mocumentary that follows a group of Film Society members in their fight to become the next Film Society president. Inspiration for the film came from her experience in the Film Society, as well as her newfound love for mocumentaries; a term used to describe comedic fictional documentary style filmmaking. She wanted to create something relatable and fun. Production began early in the Spring 2016 semester and will wrap up in the last weeks of April. The film will be finished and released after the upcoming summer.

            Ultimately, Carey wants to be the kind of director that people get excited about working with. While she claims that winning awards and getting recognition for her work would be nice, she assures that it is not the goal. She would rather her works be known than her own name. For the near future, Carey claims that she is willing to relocate to wherever she needs to go to make her directing aspirations become a reality.