SENIOR PROFILE: Frances Bodomo

If you ask Columbia College student Frances Bodomo where her passion lies, she’ll tell you it’s all in the pictures: “Film, film, film, and what it can do.”

Originally from Ghana, Bodomo spent her childhood in Norway, California, and Hong Kong. Though she is now an integral part of the University film community, Bodomo came to Columbia as a self-described hardcore English major. “Growing up in Hong Kong meant we only got the biggest movies, like Ben Stiller and that type, so I wasn’t really interested in film,” she said. Now, as festival director and public relations point person for Columbia University Film Productions, she is a mentor for budding filmmakers on campus.

After taking her first film course in the spring semester of her freshman year, she was inspired. That summer, Bodomo rented an average of eight to 10 movies per day from the public library. At the end of the summer, with her eyesight noticeably diminished, she had discovered a new calling. Her first film, made in her sophomore year and titled “Twinkles,” follows the story of a girl who has outgrown her imaginary friend and is now trying to get rid of her.

“Film can express anything, and at the same time obtain an audience big enough that it means something,” Bodomo said. But she added that in the long run, “I’m still figuring out what my message will be.”

Bodomo is particularly interested in Africa, which she says is often misrepresented in film. “That message is about poverty and rounding people up to help. ... It’s trying to portray a side of Africa that is meant to generate revenue.”

But Bodomo’s focus during her time at Columbia has not been solely on the realization of her own projects. She has helped to organize CUFP’s film festivals, which show films made by Columbia undergraduates. “A lot of people are scared to show their movies, and they will make movies and then they will put them away in their top drawer. This festival, getting people over that hump, is what I’m proud of—getting people out of their comfort zone,” Bodomo said.

“I have no doubt that Fran will be making films for the rest of her life,” Max Rifkind-Barron, CC ’11 and director of production for CUFP, said. “She has the passion, drive, and talent to make films that will shake the world. I just don’t see her stopping making films. I just don’t think she can.”

In the fall, Bodomo will be attending film school at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. From there, she said, “I will go wherever the movies take me.”