Today we’d like to introduce you to Christelle Chalupa.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
As far as I can remember, I’ve always had a creative imagination before I even knew it myself. Younger, I was never the kid who exploded with confidence. I was very shy and feared everything and everyone. I didn’t have a lot of friends or never saw the interest in participating in class. Teachers would tell my parents that I have “slow brain and memory problems” that I couldn’t memorize as fast as the other kids when in fact, I never listened to them… I was just a big daydreamer. The one thing I was waiting for after a long day of school was to get home and create. I would draw out characters, cut them out and play with them as dolls to make stories. Once I would finish my father’s printer paper stack, I would pick any camera and create movie trailers with my sisters for absolutely no reason. They would act silly and I would film everything then edit it on my old iPhone 5. It was nonsense but at the end of the day, it filled me with this joy that I can’t explain. The first person I was excited to show it to was my mom. It still is though but we would take long hours staring at my shaky unstable frames. I remember my mom saying, “Tu film mal Christelle” (You don’t film well Christelle) because it gave her headaches, but I would fixate the screen with a wide grin. I still laugh about it to this day because now she calls me to film everything for her.
At the age of 15, I start a YouTube channel that is now called AGAPI. I would say that’s where everything started. It was sort of an impulsive decision I made without thinking of what others would think or say. I filmed my very first video and uploaded it. Yes, it’s still on my channel. Please don’t go see it. It cringes me really bad haha… but for a shy kid, it still funny to me how I got the courage to even share the link to my class group chat. I guess I was just very proud of it that I wanted people to see it! And guys what kills me up to this day is that despite loving to film, I never thought of it as a passion. Never! I was always lost in who I was. At the age of 17, I didn’t even know what to do with my future.
This is why I’m so grateful to my parents for believing in me and seeing in me something I’ve never seen. I guess those teachers were right, I’m a slow brain. But all jokes aside, when I turned 18, I took my bags and flew to NYC to learn how to become a filmmaker. It was an amazing experience and I was able to write, produce and direct eight short films in just a year. My last film GLEAM is and stays my proudest short film. For me, Gleam is a very personal story that I was not afraid to share with the public eye but also a very challenging production. Last year Gleam made up to eight nominations and four winning awards in film festivals around the U.S in 2020 with the help of my Gleam Team! And from where it all started, in my bedroom, back in Congo, my YouTube channel now has 23.5 thousand subscribers with lovely supporters around the world. It’s a continuing journey and I can’t wait to film my next movie as I keep uploading on YouTube around the world!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I remember one day saying to my parents, both my dad and mom that they would come to my graduation and watch this great film idea that would be projected on big screens and that “I’m going to make you proud.”
You know nothing in life is easy. My family and I faced a lot of challenges while I was growing up but one of the hardest challenges I’ve ever faced in my life was losing my father in 2019, while I was in college far away from home, as I was preparing for my finals. He passed away from throat cancer. It was and stays a blur to my life. I was completely heartbroken and had no idea if I wanted to finish my year and instead go back to Congo and stay with my mom. Anyways, I was late in paying my last semester fee and was about to lose my dorm room. So it was a lot of pressure because if I left for the funeral, I basically had to restart my year or never come back. I didn’t want that. I remember crying for them to keep me in despite knowing I didn’t have the money at the time to pay my fee. BUT God stays GOOD! God kept me amazing people on my way, that’s why I stay so thankful to Mr. Eric in the administration office of my school. He was like an angel fallen from the sky and helped me reserve my place at NYFA while I was gone for the funeral.
During the two horrible weeks of my life back home, I told myself that I have to stick to my promise and make my father and mother proud. So I came back to NYC, started working on Gleam as my mom helped me slowly pay off my school fee. It was not easy, I had a lot of breakdowns during the pre-production of my film. At one point, I didn’t see the purpose in life anymore, it was just complicated after losing him. If it was not for God I don’t know where I would be right now. Praying was my strength and escaped from everything and that’s how I screened Gleam on a big screen in front of the public eye on my graduation. Even though my mom and siblings weren’t able to come to NYC for it. I was very proud and we celebrated through the phone and I know he is too.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I always have a hard time describing what I do cause I feel like my passion just goes in so many creative directions. I’m like split into two different worlds that I have hard times combining together.
My first world is “Fun Land”! In there, I create with no boundaries, no rules to follow. It’s just me playing with colors, patterns, angles to create an inspiring well-edited video to upload on my Youtube channel. Most of those videos are not serious and very honest about my point of view on certain things. I just like the idea of documenting my life in the adult world through a camera and I guess my viewers know me for that, being this 21-year-old girl struggling to get to her dreams.
The second World is when I wear my film director cap. I take this part of my passion very seriously while still being my own self through my writings and films. In the filmmaking world, I specialize in producing, writing, and directing. As I said earlier, Gleam is my proudest short film. It was a nice experience to work with amazing people on set and get my imagination to come to life. I want to make more movies while sharing a message and real emotions.
I honestly don’t know if I have a style, but I do know what I love and don’t. I always try to improve in my craft and I guess my style changes as I grow. I think what sets me apart in those two worlds is honesty and not being afraid of being weird. I LOVE WEIRD!
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Yeah! I love risk but I also hate how it makes me feel. Every time I would take the “risky way” things would turn out better than I would imagine. Once I graduated my first year in film school in NYC, I either had the choice to continue my bachelor studies or starts getting myself to work in the filmmaking world in LA. I’m not going to lie to you it was several days of doubt but I honestly didn’t want to continue. School and me we are not friends for long but the decision of not continuing was hard to announce to my mom. Cause I had to move to a state, I’ve never been to before, and restart basically a new life…It’s scary. My mom was cool about it! So I moved to LA with only if I remember correctly, just 200 dollars in my bank account and nowhere to go. It was a heck of a journey. I did a year there, and most time on lockdown due to covid. So I started taking my YouTube channel seriously and hit 2 million views in one of my videos and from there, my channel started growing. Between us, I didn’t like LA as much NY so I left in December of 2020 to restart a new life in Portugal. Yes, I take a lot of risks but honestly, nothing holds me back from my life decision. The dangerous path is the safest and the best. My father would always say, “if you are scared to do something that means it’s the right thing to do, so do it!” So I do it, not always easy…but I truly believe taking risks in life strengthens you and makes you more open-minded. Take risks but be smart about it.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/llagapill/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AGAPI1/videos?view=0&sort=dd&flow=grid
Image Credits:
Photographed by Christelle Chalupa
