Technical setbacks, film critics and sexism are just some of the issues that Bermudian Lara Smith has had to deal with as a female filmmaker, but she is relishing all the challenges of her new career.Her documentary ‘Cameron: A Portrait’ was shown at the recent Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF).One of three films by Bermudians shown, it was the only one shot locally. Miss Smith made the film as part of her master’s project at Emerson College in Boston. She graduated from there last year.It started as a film about ten-year-old Cameron Jeffers and his relationship with Corville Hylton. The policeman is Cameron’s Big Brother in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programme of Bermuda.“As the project evolved it became more of a portrait of Cameron’s life,” said Miss Smith, 24.“It showed that Cameron had a Big Brother and he was doing positive things, but it became a documentary about a social issue growing up without a father. The silver lining was that he has his mother, auntie and drum teacher (Eddie Ming) and Big Brother. The outcome is that there is still hope, because we have positive people in the community doing what they can to help future generations not get involved in the drug violence. As a young male they don’t have to go down that road if we as a community help them.”The mischievous and funny Cameron comes across as triumphant rather than tragic in the film, but some film critics still labelled Cameron as “troubled”, much to the horror of both Miss Smith and Cameron’s family.Cameron has been on the debate team at Gilbert Institute, plays football and cricket and is an ‘A’ student. He is to attend Saltus Grammar School on scholarship in September. The “troubled” label was possibly the result of a long-held stigma that all children in mentor programmes are damaged or delinquent. Ironically, one of the intentions of the film was to dispel this myth. ‘Cameron: A Portrait’ is currently being used by Big Brothers and Big Sisters to introduce potential recruits to the programme.The Royal Gazette first met Cameron last year when he nominated Pc Hylton as Big Brother of the Year. In an essay he wrote: “I think my Big Brother, named Corville Hylton, should be Big Brother of the Year. My brother is humble, loyal, caring, and peaceful. My Big cares about me a lot.”Cameron’s mother signed him up for the programme because she felt he needed a little extra attention and positive male influence as his father was absent from his life.“When I first started filming Cameron, he wouldn’t really show who he was,” said Miss Smith. “He kept telling me what he thought I wanted to hear. So I gave him his own movie camera and let him film his own life and give commentary. This worked really well. Then you started to see the real Cameron. He is such a vibrant person and very creative. His family were very supportive of the project and helping me get the outcome. I think it was a cathartic process for them as well because they were able to tell their story and have it be heard and get justice served to their situation.“I hope to do follow-ups of his life. My advisor for the project did the same kind of thing for a documentary she did 15 years ago in New Orleans. I was able to help her with the follow-ups.”The filmmaker was not much older than Cameron when she got her first video camera and started making home movies. She said she has always had a passion for the media.“I got my first video camera when I was 13 years old,” she said. “I honestly used to document everything. I still have tapes upon tapes from when I was younger. I loved interviewing people and finding out what people think about certain things. Today, the thing that really makes me tick is after you have done a film or a piece and you get a reaction from your audience. You can look at someone and see that they are connecting with the work. If you can get someone to think then that is powerful.”Miss Smith is now working full-time in Bermuda and is building up her reputation as a filmmaker. Radio listeners may be familiar with a radio commercial she helped to put together with a previous employer for Cheapskate.bm.“I did experience some disconnect when I came back from college,” she said. “I had been away from home for nine years. I had come back to Bermuda for the summers, but this was the real world. It was a lot to take in. You feel like ‘I am not a student anymore this is real life’.“In Bermuda, videography is dominated by men. Being young, female and fresh out of school, people feel like you have to earn your stripes. So you get comments from people like: do you know what you are doing? You have to prove yourself even more when you are a woman.”She has experienced some minor setbacks that are typical of someone just starting out. For example, she had one of her first viewings outside of BIFF at Elliott Primary School recently, but there was glare on the screen preventing much of the film from actually being seen by those who attended.“It was disappointing,” she said, “but hopefully things will go better next time.”Miss Smith is a great admirer of documentary filmmakers. One of her favourite documentaries is Michael Moore’s ‘Bowling for Columbine’.“It touches on so many issues in America, the main issue being gun violence and the culture of fear that has developed in the country,” she said. “It is also relevant to Bermuda as well. I think we need a documentary like that to look at why we have come to his culture of fear and hate.”What she would like to come out of ‘Cameron: A Portrait’ is to make fathers who aren’t in their children’s lives really think. She believes that the issues that Bermuda is dealing with, such as violence, comes back to home life.“If we can show our children, especially young black males, more love in the beginning then we have a greater outcome for our future,” she said.“People are wondering why we have all this hatred and culture of fear and gun violence. I think it comes back to how you were raised. Sometimes they want to be accepted by their friends, but I don’t think anything bad can come out of positive reinforcement.”Miss Smith said she was sure that absent fathers were just as much of an issue for girls as for boys, and she said she would consider doing a similar film in the future about a girl’s life.“We probably have many girls on the Island who are missing a parent. They may not act out in the same way they may not shoot people but they may act out and try to get love from other places. I think that everyone deals with it in different ways. I think we need more awareness of what [absent fathers] will do to future generations.”Here is a link to Lara's YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/LARADBERMUDA?feature=mhee