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Maximillian Wright
I’m interested in people and in social change. I grew up just outside Sacramento, California in a small ‘city’ called Orangevale, which had a lot of orange trees. I loved being outside but also got a thrill out of going to Blockbuster with my siblings and dad to pick out a couple films to watch over the weekend. I got bit by the movie bug early and hard. We found my dad’s video camcorder when I was about 10 and started shooting our own short films. We did all the acting, directing, camera work, production design and editing ourselves. In high school our broadcast teacher recruited my brothers and I to produce weekly short films to air during Tuesday morning broadcasts school-wide. It was tons of fun and we had no limitations about the form or content so we had room to experiment with special effects, trick photography, and bizarre lighting schemes in all sorts of genres.
After living for two years as a Mormon missionary in northern Peru, I went to film school at BYU in Provo, Utah. I met my wife there and we got married my junior year. About a year and a half later, during the pandemic, my wife was diagnosed with POTS, an often debilitating chronic illness that flipped our world upside down. We battled to finish our degrees as we waded through a scary period of not knowing what exactly was happening to her, frequent blackout episodes on campus, and a heap of doctor’s visits and ER trips. Things seemed to be on the up until the weekend that I was wrapping my Senior thesis film ... view more »
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MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Style: Visual Art: Documentary, Experimental, Expressionistic, Impressionistic, Narrative/Historical, Photo Realistic, Political, Realism, Social Commentary
Artist Medium: Film; Photography
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
I spent a lot of time in rivers, forests and the ocean throughout my youth and adolescence, which I believe in part is why I'm drawn to themes revolving around nature and human's connection to nature, as well as our inner nature and how we try to fight it or give into it. Another big influence on my philosophy and the stories that engage me now is the intense religious setting that I was raised in. My parents were Mormon so we were Mormon and always would be, no question. I had to follow all of their rules and live their principles. At least so I thought. Ironically, while attending the Mormon university BYU in Utah I had a personal 'awakening' through a series of class discussions and late night conversations with my then-girlfriend-now-wife about critical thinking and the paradoxes riddled throughout the scriptures and modern church teachings. I've since left the church but remain fascinated by the grip that religion had on me and how it dictated my entire adolescence in the way I thought and behaved. Needless to say that is a huge theme in my work as a writer and director of my own films.
Because my wife was diagnosed with POTS, I'm also determined to help spread awareness about the chronic illness through film. The majority of POTS patients are women and on average they don't get an official diagnosis for about four years due to lack of awareness around the syndrome and misogamy in the medical field. I hope that through my art I can help tell their stories.