I was born into an orphanage in Kazakhstan and was adopted at the age of two and a half. I was brought to the United States by my two loving parents, Dan and Beth Bootzin. Growing up was definitely challenging for me (it probably didn’t help that I couldn’t speak any English at the time) but the way I see it, it makes me more of the person I am today.

When I was 11 years old, my mom had a seizure while swimming in a pool. After being saved by lifeguards, she was rushed to the hospital. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor (the size of a golf ball) and ended up having brain surgery.

My mom was recovering from her brain surgery, while my dad was at work every day. My mom didn’t let me play video games at the time, so I started building a haunted maze in our yard, mainly for something to do. Since I was only 11 years old, the haunted maze started out really simple, but as I got older, it got bigger and more elaborate. Before I knew it all my friends got involved, helping me build the maze, putting up signs in the neighborhood, and performing in the maze.

I learned a lot about creative production from the mazes each year – managing a crew, directing actors, problem-solving, working towards a deadline, working with a budget and so much more.

When I was 16, I attended North Hollywood High School. Many of my friends are Latino, some of them have siblings in gangs. I started to become very interested in their culture and wanted to give a voice for people living in their circumstances. Most of all I wanted to put a meaningful message into a film.

When I was 17 years old, I wrote and directed, “Hermanos”. The film is about two close friends whose older brothers are in rival street gangs. It’s about the struggle to remain friends and the conflict of family vs friendship in a hard neighborhood. It was important to me to cast as many “real” people in the film. I was honored that many of the former gang-members/actors in the film were able to relate to the story as it reflected their own lives and felt it was an authentic depiction.

I put “Hermanos” on Youtube to mainly share it with my family members and friends. About three weeks later, and totally out of the blue, the views started going up really fast. I definitely did not expect that and now that it has reached over 9 million views, I have been astonished by how many people connected with the film. I feel very humbled that “Hermanos” was able to reach so many people.