Bird Keeper came to life with the story of a young girl getting lost in a subconscious world, only to find her path through a maze of memories to her new self. The subconscious world has always been fascinating to me as everything that happens ‘’under the surface’’ of reality—the mythology, and symbolism of dreams—is what most inspires me. At the core of this story, the main character, Lumen, experiences trauma in many different ways as her reality is split apart when one parent leaves the family but spirals down even further when she experiences an even greater loss: the loss of life. Lumen must very quickly learn what it means to grow up, to let go of the past, to accept pain, and to make choices that change her life and that of those around her. I wanted to take the viewer on Lumen’s journey because in her innocence she doesn’t separate reality from fantasy, those worlds blend together and create her very own reality and we get to experience this with her. Seeing this story from her point of view lets us be part of her imagination but also her struggles. As a young girl, many things don’t yet make sense to her and she is still dependent on guidance...she doesn’t yet understand how her choices can change the world around her. This story is about hardship and courage through adversity—my hope is to inspire viewers to have faith in themselves and the courage to push through those moments to come out on the other side even stronger.