Curtis Francisco-Sarmiento Yap grew up with heroic thoughts of his Filipino grandfather fighting in WWII. Passing by his grandfather and father's military portraits nearly every day had always inspired him to do something great with his life.  

 

In his senior year of college Curtis was given the opportunity to DP a few student shorts and the encouragement from his peers gave him the confidence he needed to pursue cinematography professionally. His parents came around when they realized he wouldn’t give up, and now they fully support him, even indulging in him carrying a camera around the house taking flattering and not-so-flattering photos.

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In his work, Curtis is just trying to tie the different aspects of himself into the frame: heritage, mental health, cinema, and love. The hard part is finding out what goes where.

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Curtis also aspires to own a cat, learn how to swim, fall in love, and become a competitive archer.