– Who is Michelle Arthur?  

I’m from a small town in the Midwest of the United States of America.  I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, but my family early on moved to a suburban area south of the city.  Had I grown up near Los Angeles, California, where movie making is literally happening all over the region on a regular basis, then I’m quite sure I would have been involved in the Hollywood business sooner.  Instead my working class parents never anticipated those dreams and encouraged me to find a steady income. I pursued a media career initially.  It was through the magazine industry for years that I was in the habit of telling stories with the editorial departments, modeling for the glossy pages, or working with all types of companies by selling advertising space.  All of those tasks cross over to film — writing, producing, directing, acting.  It was a natural transition to go from working with the still layouts in print to moving frames of TV shows/Films once I migrated to the City of Angels.  Regardless of where or how, I’m someone who always felt destined to make a mark in the world through my work.  

–What inspired you to become a filmmaker?  

Since I was a child, I’ve always had a thirst for knowledge and the desire to share my findings with others — to educate and entertain.  I remember being in the library of my grade school one day and fell in love with the idea of looking up information in the encyclopedias (google did not exist then) then filtering it somehow for the other kids.  By earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University’s School of Journalism years later, I acted upon that through the newspaper or magazine jobs that followed. I was really surrounded by Hollywood with certain publications and those types of contacts were making a big impression on me.  At the end of the day, filmmaking is story telling and entertaining or enlightening others and that registers with me the most.  Looking back it seems inevitable that I would one day make my own films.   

– Do you think cinema can bring a change in the society?  

Absolutely.  Cinema is a powerful tool.  People like to be absorbed in watching shows or films. It takes their minds off their troubles at least for awhile. The meaningful messages within those films can play a part in influencing their decisions about life. If you consider the longevity and popularity of certain films then you realize the sheer number of eyeballs upon the material.  Power in numbers.  

– What would I change in the world?  

The list is long but many of those problems could be addressed with one word:  Compassion.  If only people thought about others as much as they thought of themselves then we would all be much happier.  It sounds simple, but if you gave me a complex issue then I bet it could resolved with more compassion for others.  Toss out the mirror.  

– Where do you see the film industry going in the next 100 years? 

You mean if the earth is still around in 100 years if we humans don’t totally destroy each other and it in the process due to our selfishness? Lol.  I see film in our lives forever. People love film. So do I.