About Emily Hamel

I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I graduated from St. John’s High School and was a captain of the field hockey team.

Both my parents and my sister have attended U.Va.:
Douglas Hamel (Mathematics, Physics ’72, Law ’76)
Janet Palmer Hamel (Economics ’74, MA Public Administration ’78)
Katherine Hamel (Environmental Sciences, Studio Art ’06)
And I have two little twin brothers:
Benjamin Hamel (who will be attending Sewanee next year)
Robert Hamel (who will be attending U.Va. next year)

I have always had a distinct passion for films starting from a very early age, but it wasn’t until I came to U.Va. and starting taking Kevin Everson’s cinematography class my second year that I really started making my own films. Our film Mahogany received an honorable mention jury selection at the Virginia Film Festival this year as part of the Adrenaline Film Project.

This past semester, I decided to take Lydia Moyer’s animation class on the recommendation of a friend and it has quickly become my growing obsession. And that is how I came to be in the 2008 Salmagundi Film Festival with my short, The Life and Times of a Dust Bunny. 

I graduated in May with a B.A. in Psychology and Studio Art, and I look forward to being gainfully employed for a year before I apply for graduate school next year hopefully in the area of film or animation.

Read about her film The Jackalope’s Tales in UVA Today.