Columbia Filmmaker’s 'Lineage' Screens at Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Festival
Michelle West’s film “Lineage” was screened at the 21st annual Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts film festival. West shown here with the film’s cinematographer and Columbia alum Daniel Kenji Levin ’06. 
A scene from Michelle West’s film “Lineage.” West, assistant director and instructor at Semester in LA (SiLA), based her film on family stories. Columbia and SiLA alums, and faculty also played a role in the film’s production. 
Behind the scenes, with Michelle West (left), Daniel Kenji Levin ’06 (center), and Mehmet Adli (right). The short film “Lineage” by Michelle West, adjunct professor and assistant director of Columbia College Chicago’s Semester in LA (SiLA), premiered at the Alliance of Women Directors’ block at the HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles on Saturday, August 9. The Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying event is one of the world’s largest festivals dedicated to short films.
West—who wrote, produced, directed, and acted in the film—brought several Columbia connections onto the project. These included former SiLA students Sydney Sidell ’18 (production assistant) and Ethan Hammock ’22 (trailer editor); alum Daniel Kenji Levin ’06 (cinematographer); and adjunct professor Troy Takaki (editor).
HollyShorts: An Internationally Recognized Festival for Filmmakers
HollyShorts receives about 7,000 submissions each year and accepts about six percent. The Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying event has grown from a small theater showcase in 2005 into an internationally recognized platform at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, drawing leading filmmakers, actors, and industry executives.
A Family Story of Secrecy and Struggle
The idea for the film came to West after her aunt revealed that West’s grandmother Betty had discovered a fetus hidden in a trunk when she was a young girl. Other family stories—like tales of abortions during the Great Depression—revealed a legacy of secrecy and struggle for the women in her family.
“I wanted to break the cycle of silence and my grandmother’s story in a way that ends with healing, solidarity, and hope,” West says. “’Lineage’ reminds us of what women have endured and what they continue to face today.”
Michelle West: A Working Filmmaker and Part of Columbia’s Semester in LA
West brought to the project nearly 20 years of experience in film and television, including more than a decade in Los Angeles as an assistant director and production manager, six years as an actor, and the last four years focused on directing. She belongs to the Directors Guild of America, Women in Film, Film Independent, Alliance of Women Directors, and Women in Media. At Semester in LA, a program that provides immersive experiences for students preparing for careers in entertainment, West oversees internships and housing while teaching the program’s pre-departure course
For West, HollyShorts offered the ideal platform for her film. “Screening ‘Lineage’ at HollyShorts let me share my grandmother’s story—and the resilience of so many women like her—with an audience that values bold, personal storytelling,” she says.
Watch the trailer.