Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emma Mazurek. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Emma, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

During undergrad, I studied English writing, which was one of the best learning experiences of my life. I was able to grow as a person and a writer with the guidance of several skilled professors and writers. I found that what led to my best work here was being able to attend critique sessions, which are hard to find once you leave college, unfortunately. But giving work to a group of individuals for thoughtful, concise feedback was rather lovely. I was able to talk through ideas and instincts while learning about what made my writing work for other folks. An obstacle that often appears in critique is the growing pain of being able to accept feedback and constructive criticism because so often it can feel like personal attacks. But overcoming that just takes time and understanding that what you are doing isn’t always about you as a person but you as a writer, which is different than just you.

I spent the past few years of my life going to film school in Chicago. There we studied how film sets function, how directors work, and how to collaborate with peers. I think the time spent collaborating was the most valuable because while I was able to learn how to work with a variety of people, which is the core of what filmmaking is, I was also able to learn from them. I think being open to listening and hearing other folk’s ideas adds a new dimension to learning that is unique to your exact position. Being able to see what my peers were doing well and to take their advice really helped me grow leaps and bounds as an artist. However, I think the growing pains that come with watching other people improve while being unable to see the same improvement in yourself can be challenging. For me, I found that I needed to re-direct my focus to making things that I liked or that I would want to watch and stop comparing myself to others. And typically, when you start making art for yourself people gravitate towards that as well.

And while I went the traditional film school route, I believe the best learning for me came from watching as many movies as possible. I consider myself pretty well-watched but I’ve never seen a film that I couldn’t learn from. Sometimes the lesson is as simple as that shot doesn’t look very nice or as complicated as this story’s structure was built from the ground up to surprise us at this moment. But the more you see and the more you understand how a good movie functions the closer you get to being able to create something like that in your own work. Usually, my biggest advice for folks wondering how to learn more about film is just to watch as much as you can and take the good and the bad all in, equally.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I came to filmmaking at the end of my time at undergraduate university, where I studied writing with a focus on poetry but had always thought I would work as a journalist in the future. After an internship at a news company, I felt dissatisfied with journalism as a career and knew I needed to pivot to something else. While working this internship in Washington DC, I found myself wanting to go to the movies and eventually spent every Wednesday afternoon at the E Street Landmark Cinema. There I watched as widely as I could and found a lot of comfort and inspiration in the movies I saw there. Eventually after a particularly moving screening of “Call Me By Your Name” (2017) and a beautiful bike ride back to my apartment, I realized I wanted to be the one making something moving as well. From there, I worked to learn as much about film as I could on my own. When I got back for my senior year of college, I worked to make several short films with the guidance of professors and filmmakers alike. After graduating, a little less than a year of teaching abroad, and a global pandemic, I moved to graduate school in Chicago where I began studying filmmaking more intensely. I wrote several short scripts and shot a few short films, the biggest being my thesis project which premiered in the Spring of 2024 and is currently on the festival circuit. My thesis titled “bush” is an examination of hair on the feminine body through the lens of body horror. I was able to write and create this work with my peers who are talented artists in their own right and my friends. I’m still proud of all the work and effort that was put forward to make this short film and I’m endlessly grateful to everyone who worked on it or helped finance it. It’s the biggest thing I’ve done so far but I hope to keep pushing and directing more in my future. This past summer, I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles where I’ve done a few odd jobs and worked on a few small feature sets. I’m hoping to continue working in an Assistant Directing capacity and as a writer almost immediately. Eventually, the goal is to write and direct a feature film, and while that might not necessarily happen this year or even next, I’m excited about what the future has waiting for me.

I love nothing more than watching movies and find a lot of inspiration in the act of just going to the movie theater. (I am a big believer in seeing at least one movie in the theater every week– I think it’s good for the soul). At the current moment in my life, I’ve been watching a lot of car movies with some of my favorites being in no particular order: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Rush (2013), Logan Lucky (2017), Crash (1999), Senna (2010). But I have an extreme soft spot for horror movies, having grown up with a father who loves the genre, and some of my favorites are: Raw (2016), The Exorcist (1973) An American Werewolf in London (1981), It Follows (2014), Hausu (1977), The Thing (1982), and Suspiria (both the original and the Guadagnino remake). My favorite directors are Julia Ducournau, Agnes Varda, Luca Guadagnino, The Safdie Brothers, Alice Rohrwacher, Catherine Breillat, David Cronenberg, Ana Lily Amirpour, Martin Scorsese, Yorgos Lanthrimos, and Robert Eggers. My current four favorites (which are the closest thing I’ll get to a favorite movie) on Letterboxd are: Possession (1981), Titane (2021), Call Me By Your Name (2017), and Raising Arizona (1987). But, very rarely do I dislike a film.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part of being an artist is being able to collaborate with other people to create a shared vision. Making films is inherently collaborative and something you cannot do by yourself, no matter how hard you try. While working on something that might feel personal with a large group of people can be challenging and scary, it is rewarding when you are all able to bring your own experiences to the art to create something that transcends the original ideas present in the script. The transformation that comes with making a film is really lovely, the cast and crew grow as the material changes and morphs into what it is meant to be. Being able to be a part of the growth or even a catalyst for it is extremely fulfilling and satisfying. And finally being able to watch your hard work is even more so.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I tend to think that non-creatives expect that creatives want the same type of stability that they might have. And I’ve never quite found that to be true. To feel satisfied with my work, I need to be doing something that is genuinely changing each day. I’ve never found another career where every day is distinctly different from the previous. And most creatives I’ve met are folks who crave that type of change in their day-to-day lives. While we might have some routines we follow, ultimately we tend to be much more fluid and adaptable to change, even going so far as to seek it out. I talk often about looking for opportunities to move again, despite having just settled down. I love getting to work somewhere I’ve never been and most of my favorite on-set experiences come from having to travel to a different place for filming. I think if you’re someone who has that pull towards an ever-changing environment you might be best suited in a creative field.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://emazurek21.wixsite.com/emmamazurek
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emazzy21/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-mazurek-7a15351a0/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX5Kgcwmg57DVYFzW6COyyQ?view_as=subscriber
• Other: I’ve been pivoting away from Instagram for a while now, but I’m really enjoying substack at the moment, and mine is linked here:

  https://emmamazurek.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile

Image Credits

Image credits go to: Marco Bacchetta, Eesha Patkar, Max Warchol, and Carah Chafin.