As the Jamaican film industry continues to grow, upcoming director/producer Kia Moses is ready to make her contribution to its development.

She is pleased with its current path.

“It’s a really exciting and growing industry. The level of creativity and the increase in the number of films coming from the island is very exciting. Even looking at Sprinter and even some other short films that have been produced and the new Bond movie being filmed here, film in Jamaica is definitely going in a great direction,” she told the Jamaica Observer’s Splash.

Still, Moses notes that there is room for improvement.

“I want to establish an online course in screenplay writing that can provide other film-makers with training so that we can strengthen the industry even more,” she said.

Moses has been an active film-maker for just over one year, but has earned acclaim with her 13-minute short, Flight. It won five awards at the Gatffest Film Festival on Sunday, including the Archibald McDonald Award for Best of the festival. Flighthas racked up awards overseas with three in the United States from the Black Women Film Network Summit held at the Atlanta Technical College.

But, the 34-year-old was not always interested in film-making.

“After I received my early acceptance to UTech (University of Technology Jamaica), I went on to study architecture. I only completed one year before I realised it was just too many straight lines and I wanted to be a little more creative,” she said.

Moses searched for a profession that would combine words and visuals and was told that a career in advertising would be appropriate. She enrolled in the School of Visual Arts in New York where she received her bachelors in Advertising (Hons).

Later, Moses co-founded the advertising company Those Creative People (TPC).

Though she was able to exercise her creativity, Moses dreamed of working on larger projects and to tell even bigger stories.

“Working in advertising I was able to do it all, the writing and the visual combined but I wanted to go beyond the 30-50 seconds. That’s when I entered the JAFTA (Jamaica Film and Television Association) Propella Film Project, to try it out for the first time,” said Moses.

After being one of four films selected, Moses attended mandatory film workshops where she gained most of her knowledge on film directing and production.

“Everything I know about film-making I learned from those workshops, YouTube, Google and some books I was reading to help me develop. Everything I really know now, I have learned between January and June while working on Flight,” she expressed.

With that expertise and new-found self-confidence, Moses is exploring the idea of expanding Flight. She also wants to direct music videos and more advertisements. She directed Naomi Cowan’s Paradise Plum video.

“It has literally been the hardest but most rewarding journey. I didn’t understand the amount of work, the amount of people, the resources and detail that goes into producing a film. But it has been an amazing journey. I was afraid to jump in but I’m glad I did and I plan to continue on the path,” Moses said.

She urges youngsters who want to enter the industry to neglect any reservations and just go for it.

“There is nothing to lose but so much to learn. Don’t over think it, just ‘chuck off’ and learn to swim as you go.”