15-Year-Old Filmmaker Takes His Work to the Next Level

It's not unusual for some kids in 8th grade to start their own Youtube channels. They'll often be home movies of friends, edits of music videos or other simple projects. Max Galassi was a little different. 

"I associate filmmaking with storytelling, and I love to tell stories," he says.

Galassi is now 15 and finishing his sophomore year at Newtown High School as a director with multiple award-winning short films under his belt. 

His most recent work, Astral, debuted at Healing Newtown in February and  His previous film, Moonlight, won Best in Connecticut and Best Experimental and went to a national film festival for talented youth in Seattle, Washington. Since starting high school, he's also studied at the Regional Center for the Arts in Trumbull alongside his normal high school activities. It's allowed him to find cast members for his past projects.

"I was already part of the Youtube community, experiencing a lot of other young filmmakers from a distance," he said. "This was the first time I met people who shared the same passions I did."

But for his next project -- Youth, a "30 minute dramedy that follows the stories of three teenagers living in a small suburban town" -- he'll be working with a budget. Over the weekend, he turned to online fundraising provider Indiegogo to raise money. (He even produced a short film to preview the look and feel of Youth -- watch it at the Indiegogo link.)

He's co-writing Youth with friend Jim Eckl, and hopes it will mark a step forward in his filmmaking.

"I'll be holding auditions in late June, and for this one, I want to get really good actors," he says. "I anted to stray away from experimental films and go into dramedy."

Galassi counts filmmakers like Terence Malick and Michel Gondry among his influences -- directors who combine a strong, dreamlike vision with storytelling chops.

"I've been so heavily influenced by all these experimental-genre films," he says. "I don't want to create something that's exactly like everything else. But I also do want to make something that makes sense and has a good storyline people can follow and be emotionally affected by."

Galassi has kept busy with more than just his own short films. He's produced music videos -- and, most recently, a short for Sandy Hook Promise, in which he interviewed folk music legend Pete Seeger, as well as a video for Jim Allyn's "My Beautiful Town," a tribute to Newtown written after the 12/14 tragedy. As for the future, Galassi says he hasn't decided whether to pursue story-based filmmaking full-time or look into another role he could serve as a director or photographer.

"I haven't thought about what I'm going to do professionally, but I do know I want to do something that will make me happy," he says.

And at 15, he's still got time to decide.

Video: Watch "Sophie's Tree," a short film Galassi created and screened before the premiere of his last film, Astral.