Success is beckoning for a performing arts student after her debut short movie made it through to the final round of a UK film festival.

Olivia Hollreiser’s short film ’Little Boxes’ has recently won the popular vote in the ’New Voices’ category of the London Lift-Off Film Festival, and will now go forward to the final round of judging.

The five-minute coming-of-age film is a short, touching look at sibling relationships and was filmed in the island during the summer, featuring an all-local cast.

She enlisted the help of her older brother, Ryan, and her friend Mia as Bobby and Hope, as a brother and sister who try to connect throughout their childhood and into their young adult lives through messages left in small boxes.

Kristene Sutcliffe, Olivia’s acting mentor, appears as the mother and her daughter, Alexis appears as the young Hope, along with Isaac Kreisky who plays the younger Ryan.

Nineteen-year-old Olivia, who is originally from Los Angeles, moved to the Isle of Man in 2011 aged nine years old.

She is currently studying Musical Theatre at ArtsEd, one of the UK’s leading drama schools, and produced, wrote and directed Little Boxes as part of an assignment for her Film Studies A Level.

The success of her film so far has taken her by surprise, as she didn’t consider herself as a film maker, saying that she had to be talked into entering competitions and online film festivals.

’Honestly, it wasn’t my idea. After showing the film to my ArtsEd teachers and my family, they encouraged me to enter Little Boxes in some festivals,’ said Olivia.

’I’ve never really considered myself as a talented filmmaker, although I have always enjoyed stage directing.

’I’ve competed as a musician, writer and performer in competitions such as the Guild, Young Actor of Mann and Young Singer of Mann, but this is the first time I’ve put myself out there as a filmmaker.

Olivia’s film packs a lot of emotion and pathos into its short five-minute duraton and has been described as delivering a ’big sentimental gift for the characters and the audience’.

’Having to write a film was at first quite intimidating,’ she said.

’I realised that the ideas had to be about things that were "real" to me.

’I decided to focus on the complexity of sibling relationships as they change over time and I was inspired by my own experience with two older brothers, with one three years older and the other nearly 10 years older.

’The "little boxes" were an interesting and whimsical way to physically realise Hope’s attempts to share her positivity with Bobby, before his shadowy and cynical teenage world inevitably eats them away, and Hope gives up.’

The success of ’Little Boxes’ has given Olivia a confidence boost as she studies further in her chosen field.

’It feels incredible to have moved into the final round and I’m so proud to have won in the popular vote, and getting this far in the festival and winning a category.

’It reassures me of why I chose to study the performing arts and pursue a career where I get to create.’

by Mike Wade

Twitter:@iomnewspapers