Best Student Film at 2022 FMff is Nya Chambless’ ‘Just Believe’
Nya Chambless took Best Student Film honors at the 12th Annual Fort Myers Film Festival for her 8-minute short Just Believe. It’s about a precociously confident home-schooled girl who begins to doubt herself and her social skills in the wake of life changing news.
“It’s about being okay with yourself, to not let anyone tell you or 
make you feel like you are not enough by just being you,” shares Nya, who urges her peers to be “happy with your freaky, weird, nerdy and unique self!”
Some of Nya’s favorite films and influences include Death on the Nile, Encanto, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Ben Hur, 12 Angry Men, Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot and High School Musical, the series.
Chambless is currently working on two new scripts, one 
on her own about bullying and the other with a friend about friendship.
“It means a lot to me that people get to see my film and like the message that I put into it,” Nya adds. “I really hope that other people who see it know that it is okay to be yourself, that it’s great actually.”
Chambless has a Vimeo page for her work: www.vimeo.com/nyachambless.
May 25, 2022
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.