I am currently enrolled at the New York Film Academy taking up a one-year filmmaking course. In fact, I had just emerged from Sundance. I enjoyed skiing there but beyond that, meeting the great Robert Redford was exhilarating. I intentionally never viewed at any of the movies for this year’s Sundance selection though because I first want to expose myself with mainstream movies.

The thing is, my tuition at the New York Film Academy was all financed with two student loans. My name is Francisco and I’m a son of immigrant Mexican parents from Laredo, Texas. Laredo is bustling with immigrants from Mexico because it’s a gateway to the United States. Being their only child, my parents who were both farm laborers in El Paso during my elementary years before ultimately living in Laredo, managed to get me a public high school education. Education was definitely not a problem as high school was free but miscellaneous expenses such as snacks and mingling with my high school friends take the toll of my dad’s coffers.

It was also during this coming-of-age point in my life that I admire films. Latin American actresses such as America Ferrera are not necessarily my type though but I just can foresee the future as a mainstream filmmaker. While checking out MySpace, I chanced into the website of Sallie Mae and the articles on their website have convinced me that I can really succeed being a filmmaker with the help of a college student loan from Sallie Mae. In my later research over the Net, I also encountered that the federal government is likewise providing college loans for students who are really determined to have some form of tertiary education as a starting point for a lifetime career.

So I grab the opportunity and took the examination qualifier so I can get the federal government student loan. They have this exam because slots are limited since the federal government student loan has lesser interest than the ones offered by private providers such as Sallie Mae.

Staying for a year in a tertiary institution is just a quarter of what one endures when taking a professional bachelor’s degree course. Others even last for two more academic semesters such as certain engineering courses. But I believe that what I am studying right now – a two-semester course in filmmaking can already suffice to jumpstart a career.

My studying comes at a very opportune time where the filmmaking industry is in its very dynamic state. The playing field is therefore leveled and every filmmaker has an equitable chance to succeed. Consider at what wrapped up at the box office since the start of this year. It was a vampire movie with a deserted Brooklyn that came out on top during the holidays. By the start of the year, it was an adventure movie with extremely preposterous plots making a joke out of Helen Mirren’s performance. Later, another monster haunting New York became the top grosser. And now, a spoof of 2007 movies is number one at the box office. Now that’s some diversity indeed.