When Zo Salicrup Junco was a 9-year-old living in Puerto Rico, her parents took her to see Contact, the 1997 movie starring Jodie Foster as a scientist researching alien life, part of which was filmed in Juncos homeland.

The opening credits began, a whoosh of stars and planets and asteroids hurling across the screen, prompting an amused Junco to verbalize her wonder: Oh, look at this! Look at that! A teenager seated nearby started repeating her exclamations in a mocking tone. But Junco wasnt embarrassed by the taunts.

I felt bad for him, she recalled. I was like, Youre selling yourself short of the experience. Youre not in the moment.

At the time, Junco didnt know shed one day become a filmmaker herself, not only creating images for others to marvel at but using her voice to amplify vital sociopolitical issues. Her latest short, Marisol, about an undocumented Mexican immigrant laboring to provide for her daughter in New York, has played festivals around the country, including last years Nitehawk Shorts Festival , where it won HuffPosts annual Impact Award. Marisol even landed an enviable two-year distribution deal with HBO , further establishing Junco as a director whose career is rising.

When Junco was preparing for college, she knew shed leave Puerto Rico for an education on the U.S. mainland, like her older brother. But she chose to major in film on a whim. She spotted it among a list of options and assumed the subject would share traits with her biggest passion, dance. Junco had been learning classical ballet since age 2 but saw it as a hobby rather than a vocation.

Filmmaking, she decided, was another mode of storytelling stitched together using choreography and emotions much like the ones shed expressed while watching Contact.