freedom IN FILM
Though Cynthia Hill was always creative, a childhood art teacher in her hometown of Pink Hill, North Carolina, told Cynthia she could never be an artist because she was too much of a perfectionist. That advice led Cynthia to pursue math and science, ultimately landing an advanced degree as a pharmacist.
While studying at UNC-Chapel Hill, Cynthia had a chance encounter with filmmakers from Los Angeles, planting the seed for an interest, passion and talent that would later land her multiple Emmy awards. She started pursuing this passion while still a pharmacy student.
“I stopped writing papers,” Cynthia says. “Every project I had to do for pharmacy school, I made a video instead.” In graduate school at Auburn for pharmacy administration, Cynthia took advantage of a production studio on campus, where she started making films.
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“I thought maybe I would do health education media,” she says. “But I had more stories in me that I wanted to tell. It took me a long time to call myself an artist or a filmmaker, though.” Hanging next to various film awards is her 10-year service certificate from the Walmart pharmacy. Cynthia appreciated her work as a pharmacist and understands how it provided unusual ways to develop as a filmmaker.
“Having that kind of security allowed me to take risks in other aspects of my life, in filmmaking, in real estate or in whatever else I was trying to do — working at the drugstore, I made enough to not worry about money,” she says. “It also allowed me the freedom to make films without making content for other people. I never worked for anyone else. I figured filmmaking out on my own. In hindsight, it was a very strategic way to approach it,” she adds. Cynthia moved to New York City to continue her film career, but then started traveling back to North Carolina for frequent work on her documentary, “Tobacco Money Feeds My Family.”