{"id":77014,"date":"2026-02-16T09:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77014"},"modified":"2026-02-16T09:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:38:15","slug":"the-making-of-a-filmmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/the-making-of-a-filmmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"The making of a filmmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

After graduating from Northern Arizona University (NAU)\u00a0with a degree in illustration,\u00a0<\/span>James\u00a0Ward\u00a0Byrkit<\/span><\/b>\u00a0is returning to campus\u00a0to share his experiences with\u00a0Lumberjacks\u00a0as part of the new partnership between NAU and the Sedona International Film Festival (SIFF).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Story<\/a>Byrkit, a Flagstaff native, said he was obsessed with drawing from\u00a0a\u00a0young\u00a0age,\u00a0making picture books of epic tales.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would just draw hundreds and hundreds of pictures to try to get these ideas out\u00a0of my head,\u201d Byrkit said. \u201cI think I\u00a0was around 10 years old when I realized there was a job of drawing for movies. I saw some of the drawings for\u00a0\u2018Star Wars\u2019\u00a0and other films and thought\u00a0that it\u00a0sounded like the greatest job. As I got older, I got into directing and writing, but\u00a0I still go back to drawing to imagine, visualize or plan something that is in my head.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Storyboard<\/a>Byrkit\u2019s storyboard work<\/a>\u00a0includes the \u201cPirates of the Caribbean\u201d films, \u201cThe Amazing Spiderman\u201d\u00a0and the animated movie \u201cRango.\u201d\u00a0His\u00a0production designs for the\u00a0\u201cPirates\u201d\u00a0sequel \u201cAt World\u2019s End\u201d served as a blueprint for the action sequences directed by Gore Verbinski.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of\u00a0the\u00a0CAL Film Series at Cline Library,\u00a0Byrkit will\u00a0showcase\u00a0some of his storyboards and\u00a0share\u00a0behind-the-scenes\u00a0stories\u00a0at\u00a0a screening of \u201cPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man\u2019s Chest\u201d on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.\u00a0On Feb. 25 at 9\u00a0p.m.,\u00a0he will\u00a0present his film \u201cCoherence,\u201d a science fiction psychological thriller he wrote and\u00a0directed,\u00a0at the\u00a0Mary D. Fisher Theater in Sedona, as part of\u00a0SIFF.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Byrkit\u00a0said the partnership\u00a0between\u00a0NAU and\u00a0SIFF is\u00a0a great opportunity\u00a0for people from Flagstaff and Sedona to see what is happening in\u00a0each\u00a0other\u2019s\u00a0towns\u00a0and take advantage of\u00a0what\u00a0each city\u00a0has to offer.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Storyboard<\/a>\u201cBoth cities are doing a lot of interesting and different things,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said. \u201cSIFF is presenting this\u00a0curated group of films in\u00a0a very short\u00a0time and bringing all these special guests and interesting people\u00a0for\u00a0workshops. I think NAU students could\u00a0benefit\u00a0from that if they have time. It is an adventure to go down the canyon and spend a day or two in Sedona to get exposed to these films and these people making the films.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Byrkit\u00a0is also scheduled to\u00a0participate\u00a0in workshops at NAU\u2019s School of Communication, where he will speak with students about his\u00a0journey as a filmmaker, hoping to awaken something lasting in those now standing where he once did.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Storyboard<\/a>\u201cIt\u00a0is always fulfilling and interesting to see what the students are up to,\u201d Byrkit said. \u201cI love seeing\u00a0them\u00a0in the middle of their projects and getting a sense of what is important to them and what their challenges are.\u00a0It’s\u00a0endlessly fascinating to see their creativity developing.\u00a0I love\u00a0talking\u00a0about my journey from being one of them to being on\u00a0this\u00a0incredible\u00a0adventure in filmmaking.\u00a0Looking back, I\u00a0was\u00a0always\u00a0appreciative when guest\u00a0speakers\u00a0came\u00a0and\u00a0talked\u00a0with us, but\u00a0I think\u00a0it\u00a0makes it even more special when\u00a0it’s\u00a0someone\u00a0who has lived in Flagstaff and understands exactly what\u00a0it’s\u00a0like to\u00a0be\u00a0an\u00a0NAU student.\u00a0I hope that by telling my story and showing them my work in a tactile way, they can get a sense of confidence and possibility.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on Byrkit screening at NAU visit\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>CAL film series website<\/span><\/a>. For information about the Sedona International Film Festival, visit\u00a0<\/span>their website<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After graduating from Northern Arizona University (NAU)\u00a0with a degree in illustration,\u00a0James\u00a0Ward\u00a0Byrkit\u00a0is returning to campus\u00a0to share his experiences with\u00a0Lumberjacks\u00a0as part of the new partnership between NAU and the Sedona International Film Festival (SIFF).\u00a0 Byrkit, a Flagstaff native, said he was obsessed with drawing from\u00a0a\u00a0young\u00a0age,\u00a0making picture books of epic tales.\u00a0 \u201cI would just draw hundreds and hundreds…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":77020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-happenings"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}