Film student wins Best Drama award

Budding filmmaker Julian Barahona’s latest project is a resonant letter to his childhood self. In 2008, Barahona and his mother were unhoused; now, he’s drawing on this experience to tell the story of “A Trip to the Moon.” 

Barahona, a freshman majoring in film and television production, spent his senior year of high school producing a short film that recently received the honor of Best Drama at the All American High School Film Festival. 

Growing up, Barahona’s main interests weren’t at all creative. Though he enjoyed movies, he spent his early years more enamored with the sciences.  

“In elementary school, I was more focused on science and quantum physics at that time because I was like, ‘Well, that’s a crazy thing,’” Barahona said. “But then, at my core, I always liked movies.”

When the coronavirus pandemic hit during his sophomore year of high school, Barahona, like many, was forced to spend time at home, where he spent his days writing. 

He spent time working on multiple scripts and projects, all while having “A Trip to the Moon” in the back of his mind. The story of “A Trip to the Moon” is a deeply personal one, and for this reason, he was hesitant to tell it. 

After the Great Recession, Barahona and his mother were forced to sleep in their car, which reflects a key theme in the short film of the importance of imagination and wonder. It was his mother that encouraged him to write the story. 

“My mom was like, ‘How about let’s just write it, you know?’ And so that night, I wrote on a piece of paper, just the outline,” Barahona said. “I kind of figured out the structure of it.” 

The next summer, he had a finished script and set out to make the story come to life. Over the course of two days, Barahona and his crew filmed the project. It was the first time he had worked with a professional crew or on a project of this magnitude, and although he was overwhelmed at first, by the second day, he had settled in with the help of a dream. 

“I went to sleep and I had all these images of the day happening, and I was moving and I heard this voice saying, ‘It’s okay just go with the process. Go with the flow.’” Barahona said. “I was able to direct and just be in the moment.”  

This sense of peace and mindfulness stayed with Barahona throughout the shoot as he raced against the clock. 

“Everything was just kind of unfolding unto itself, like a flower,”  Barahona said. “I felt like I was in the zone and I was communicating with everyone, making sure everyone’s good. Everyone was safe doing their thing.” 

Months after submitting the project, graduating high school and starting his first semester of college, it was time for the Teen Indies — the All American High School Film Festival’s Oscars-esque award show. 

The moment arrived where Barahona and his team would find out if their hard work had paid off — and he was in a restroom on campus. 

“I opened the [livestream] and, because it was many hours, I’m popping in every now and then,” Barahona said. “And the moment I go in, I see ‘Best Drama’ and I’m like ‘Oh my god.’ They do the nominees and then I hear my name, and I’m at USC, in L.A., in a bathroom. Like, that’s so silly.”

Chloe Rankin, a freshman majoring in film and television production, described her friend and his work as “whimsical.” 

“[Barahona] is a ball of wonder. I think he is his own little planet that is amazing and is admirable, and I love it,” Rankin said. “It feels really comforting to have someone with so much talent and so much perspective in your corner.”  

Sir William Cornwell III, another of Barahona’s friends and a freshman majoring in acting, further emphasized the unique perspective Barahona incorporates into his work.   

“I think he is one of the most creative people I’ve ever met,” Cornwell said. “And after seeing his work, I understand him a lot more, not just as a creative but as a person, and the way he thinks is so beautiful too.”

In the future, Barahona intends to explore other areas in the filmmaking arena and hopes to continue telling stories with something to abstract from them. Anyone interested in viewing “A Trip to the Moon” can find it on YouTube. 

“I hope that throughout my career, I’d love to be able to do things so that people can see that there’s more, you know,” Barahona said. “There’s more stories, there’s more backgrounds.”