EVERETT — When Brandon Bolanos was in fourth grade, he got to play Wilbur in “Charlotte’s Web.”
He loved it.
Since then, the 14-year-old North Middle School student has directed, filmed and acted in about a dozen videos, most of them also starring his 11-year-old sister, Veronica Bolanos.
The two are making short documentaries for an annual C-SPAN student contest and they have a chance to win $5,000. To qualify, the students’ pieces must explore a topic they believe the next president should deal with.
“I’m really excited to do it,” said Veronica, whose film is about making cigarettes illegal. “I get this chance to make a difference, and I’m only 11.”
Their mom, Brenda Bolanos-Ivory, drove the aspiring directors to Seattle’s Space Needle on Friday afternoon to film their documentaries.
Brandon’s films are typically several minutes long. When they’re finished, he posts his videos on his YouTube channel, Sunny Day Films.
YouTube is a free Web site where users can create profiles, or “channels,” and post homemade videos anybody can watch.
“It makes me really happy, acting and directing in my own movies,” Brandon said.
The most rewarding feeling is seeing his movies on the Internet, where they get to live a life of their own, he said.
It allows for a whole other perspective, Brandon said. “I look at it, and it’s all put together, and it makes a story.”
Their stories take Brandon and Veronica to a world where goofy is the new cool.
With big glasses and curly hair, Brandon sometimes acts in front of the camera in a style similar to the nerdy lead character of the award-winning film “Napoleon Dynamite.”
“I’m not afraid to act out as something I’m not and have fun,” he said.
His films aim to make people laugh, but he can also be serious.
The documentary he’s making for the contest tackles the question of why Osama bin Laden still hasn’t been caught.
“We should definitely catch Osama bin Laden for what he did to people in 9/11,” Brandon said.
The teen believes people need to answer for their actions. “When I do something bad, like eat before dinner, my mom catches me right away.”
In her movie, Veronica wants to look at what people think about making cigarettes illegal.
“Smoking isn’t really used for anything else other than to hurt someone’s body,” Veronica said. “There are children out there whose parents smoke who live in that unhealthy environment, but they don’t have a choice.”
It’s OK for people to disagree, Veronica said. She wants to hear both sides of the story.
The siblings’ friends Austane Read, a seventh-grader, and Idriz Aksamovic, an eighth-grader, are helping them make the documentaries.
The young filmmakers prepared questions they were going to ask strangers on the street.
The prospect of talking to unfamiliar men and women hardly made the siblings nervous.
Brandon said he’s not afraid to be rejected by some stranger. “I’m just gonna take it as their loss.”
Veronica just shrugged. “I’ve been campaigning for different people in politics. I’ve come across people who are rude before,” she said.
The two never stop surprising their family and friends, Bolanos-Ivory said. “They see the world through their eyes as kids and share it.”
Besides making films, the kids earn A’s in school and play sports. Brandon also skateboards, and Veronica designs purses and clothing.
“I get lost in everything they do,” Bolanos-Ivory said with a laugh.
Filmmaking is a big part of Brandon’s life now. He said he wants to be a director but may change his mind later.
“I don’t want to have regrets,” he said. “I want to be that person who said that I worked as a kid towards my dreams.”
Reporter Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452 or kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
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