Brooke, a graduate of the prestigious California Institute of the Arts, now works for a prestigious special effects film company. "Actually, I wouldn't call them a special or digital effects company, really. They're more an old-fashioned company that specializes in the building of miniature models that are used in films. They're best known for making some of the models in the 'Alien' film series, as well as 'Batman and Robin,' and 'End of Days' (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger). We don't really use the latest technology, but I really like the work." Brooke explains her own old-fashioned approach to the making of her short film, 'Boobie Girl,' for which she drew each picture page by page, much the way Disney films were made in the early days. "I guess I have a very stubborn policy when it comes to the technique of filmmaking. I could have easily made my film digitally, but I decided that I wanted to take a more traditional route for this film. So I used a really huge old camera, and took pictures of each page I drew. I wanted to give the film a very hand-made look." In the end, Brooke drew about 4000 pictures. "Even though the pictures look really simple, it took an incredible amount of time just to draw them. First I started with a basic black-and-white picture, which took about six months. Then I colored them all in, and that took about three weeks. I never thought it would take that long, but it did." And the effort paid off. 'Boobie Girl' won a Student Academy Award, and has screened at festivals worldwide. "Spain, Brazil, Canada…it's screened in so many different countries. I also screened it at the Cannes Film Festival in France, although it wasn't in competition." She says, however, that her experience screening it in Japan has been different. "The Japanese audiences don't react the way others do, especially not northern American audiences. In the first screenings here, I just couldn't tell if people liked it, or they understood it. So I came out into the lounge here and directly approached audience members, and handed out some stickers (with the 'Boobie Girl' logo) and asked them. I was so happy to hear them say 'It was great! I really enjoyed it!' I asked some young women who saw it if they understood it or liked it and they said, 'Of course! Girls are girls everywhere!' It's really nice to hear that kind of reaction.' With all her success with 'Boobie Girl,' Brooke, however, doesn't have plans to make a feature-length film, unlike Kim Jun Ki, another director in this year's program ("The Lighthouse Keeper"). "I think it's the goal of most filmmakers to make a feature length film, but as an animator, I don't think it's all that necessary. I mean, it took me over six months to make a five-minute film. How long will it take for me to make a two-hour film? I think I'll continue making short films. I also dream of making a kids' program, maybe half animation, half live action. We'll see." Japanese audiences thought 'Boobie Girl' was a good example of a film that captures American pop culture. Does Brooke think there's a relationship between nationality and filmmaking? "I don't really think of that when I'm making a film. I think when, as a filmmaker, you think about what your audience wants or what you'd like the audience to see, you lose perspective, you lose your own creativity, because you get caught up in trying to do something, to please someone else, not yourself. What I do care about, however, is that what I create is easy to understand, that what I want to say is clear in all that I do. Films take a lot of time and money to make, and they take a lot of sacrificing on the part of the filmmaker, so, I think it's most important to put into the film what you really want to say, what you really want to show." And what about her next project? Brooke wants to model a story on her father. "My dad runs a model train store. I'm very close to my dad and I'd like to use him as the basis for a kind of crazy character in that environment. I think it should be a fun project."