Meet The Director & Writer
Sahra Bhimji (nee Girshick) is a film writer, director and educator. After many years in France and the UK, in 2015 she returned to living in her native California. She is an Assistant Professor of Film Production at Diablo Valley College, a community college in the Bay Area.
Sahra enjoys lecturing and working with students of all ages, and has taught filmmaking at Santa Clara University, San Francisco State University, Stevenson College Edinburgh, and through Media Education and Screen Education Edinburgh. She enjoys working with community groups and has acted as a mentor to young filmmakers in Edinburgh and London.
She holds an M.F.A. in cinema from San Francisco State University, during which time she spent a year studying film at University of Paris (St Denis). She also has a B.S. from Stanford University in Earth Systems Science and Drama.
Meet the Cast
Liam
Garret Hannigan
My name is Garrett Hannigan, I studied for a couple years at Colorado State University for Design and Technology in Theatre, transferred to Diablo Valley College to pursue acting, and I am currently studying at Atlantic Acting School in New York! I can do a fairly accurate impression of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, and I own an inhuman amount of flannels.
Waleed
Christopher Batres
Christopher Batres is an upcoming actor from Salina, California and is grateful to be apart of Diablo Valley College's short film, Chemistry. He has collaborated in several projects with software program company, Dfusion inc, creating educational videos on autism. He has also worked on student short films, as well as an extra in HBO's Big Little Lies. Aside from acting, he enjoys martial arts, reading, and writing!
Meet The Crew
The Production Team
Producer
Ryan Sagun
Ryan Sagun is a college student from Livermore, California. He is an award-winning filmmaker, with an Associates Degree in Film from Diablo Valley College, and aiming to graduate with his Bachelors from Sacramento State in 2024. For his 2021 film, Guilty As Charged, where he worked as the assistant director, writer, and editor, he received an achievement in Sound Design from the Las Po Film Fest 2022. He mainly specializes in Directing, Writing, Editing, and Producing.
First Assistant Director
Ryan Bolendor
Ryan Bolendor grew up learning the ins and outs of TV production but instead shifted to his true passion for film. He is an aspiring film major that has always dreamed of pursuing a career in cinematography. He made his debut as a Director of Photography in the short film The Hex.
Writer & Script Supervisor
Kaylynn Barley
Kaylynn is a current student at DVC studying film with interests in screenwriting, producing and assistant directing. As a child, she pursued theatre and acting and became more interested in backstage and production work as she grew older. Kaylynn has taken part in many student films and continues to work on sets for internships and other student projects with friends. She wrote and directed one of her first films “All The Signs” that has been nominated into multiple film festivals. After DVC, Kaylynn hopes to transfer to a 4-year college where she can learn more about film production as well as hopefully getting accepted into a couple more internships.
Director of Photography
Jessica Silva
Hi, my name is Jessica Silva and I was the director of photography for our short film, Chemistry. I have been creating films throughout my entire life and when my passion for film significantly grew in high school, I realized that filmmaking was what I wanted to do as my career. I spent two years at Diablo Valley College and am so grateful to take what I have learned during my time at community college and apply it to future experiences at my next destination, UC Berkeley. I have man aspirations for the future and hope to one day become a director of photography, camera operator, editor, or social media manager.
Art Director
Precious Bautista
Precious has always had an affinity for film and the arts from a very young age. Her attention to detail, craftsmanship, and ingenuity has allowed her to explore the ins and outs of the art department in a multitude of projects. It is her ability to lead and organize that naturally led her to thrive as Art Director. Precious is a recent DVC graduate and is currently pursuing her Bachelor's Degree in Cinema at San Francisco State University.
Gaffer
Matthew Chi
Matthew Chi is an aspiring storyteller who conveys his creative vision onscreen. Matthew's style in lighting stems from his interest in experimenting with various colors and tones--he consistently searches for improvement within his lighting to enhance the emotion within the director's vision. Matthew will also continue his film studies at Chapman University.
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Sound Recordist
Gyamfiah Boateng
Gyamfiah is currently working their way towards an Associates degree for transfer in Film, Television, and Electronic Media. They find joy in creating stories through visual and auditory mediums and hope to pursue a career that allows them to fully explore this.
Location Manager & Hair and Makeup Artist
Stephanie Cigarroa
Stephanie Cigarroa is a film student from Diablo Valley College. She has acted, directed and written multiple short films. A short film she wrote was A Moment Away (2021).
Casting Director
Graham Kennedy
Graham Kennedy is majoring in film and television at DVC, with an emphasis on screenwriting and film production. Working on Chemistry was a great experience and he wants to give a big shout-out to everyone involved for that. He is excited to be part of the DVC film community and to participate in telling stories through film!
BTS Director
Oscar Barraza
Oscar Barraza is a current film student at Diablo Valley College. He has worked on several projects as an actor, writer, producer, & director. He directed Lost in Broad Daylight (2021) and worked on others such as Imperubicin (2021). He even worked as producer on the filming of his script Pretty Boy (2022). He hopes to transfer his work into writing & directing scripts for bigger projects in the future.
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Post-Production Supervisor
Shawntel Tilos
Shawntel Tilos is currently a Cinema student at San Francisco State University. She has always been fascinated in the hard "behind-the-scenes" work that it takes to make a film. She grew up making short vlogs documenting special moments of her life. She started a freelance photography business after graduating high school in 2015, which really exposed her to working with clients and executing their vision. She plans to pursue a career in Production Management.