Foster ’26 Documentary Accepted to FirstGlance Film Festival

A cinema and media studies major from the City of Brotherly Love, Mekhia said her passion for film began when she discovered movies’ ability to transport audiences into different worlds. 

“As I got older, I realized that I didn’t just want to watch these stories; I wanted to create them for myself,” she said.

In Her Care is Foster’s first documentary. The project tells the story of her grandmother’s journey through nursing school to eventually opening up her own school in Philadelphia. She said the documentary was inspired by several courses she took at Hamilton focused on the importance of documenting and archiving meaningful stories.

“Naturally, my family comes to mind first when I think of this,” she said. “I decided that I wanted to start with my grandmother’s story.”

“As I got older, I realized that I didn’t just want to watch these stories; I wanted to create them for myself.”

Foster credits several Hamilton professors with shaping her path as a filmmaker. She shared how her project advisor, Associate Professor of History Celeste Day Moore, encouraged her to submit the documentary to film festivals, while Professor of Cinema and Media Studies Scott MacDonald influenced her understanding of film history and theory. Professors Moore and Pavitra Sundar, associate professor of literature, also helped her secure grants through the Emerson Fund and Casstevens Family Fund to support her projects. Additionally, she acknowledges Assistant Professor of Digital Arts Anna Huff for providing opportunities for her to explore multimedia storytelling techniques, which ultimately helped shape her identity as a filmmaker. 

Because the film centers on her family’s story in Philadelphia, Foster chose to submit it to local festivals in hopes of being able to attend screenings with her grandmother.

Now, after graduation from Hamilton, Foster returned home to continue building her independent film company and collaborating with other local filmmakers. 

“My mission as a filmmaker is to create and put diverse and underrepresented stories and characters on the screen,” she said. “My hope is that audiences who watch my films walk away feeling either like they saw themselves on screen or that they have a better understanding of a culture different from their own.”