Senior communication arts major with minors in theater and creative writing Contessa DiGuglielmo is currently producing a film titled “Vigil,” to be featured in the Lux Mea Film Festival.

“I have been writing and directing short films with my friends since I was eight years old. I love storytelling, I love visual art, I love acting, and I love directing,” DiGuglielmo said. She brings together her love for all these things through creating short films.

The film she is currently working on is titled “Vigil.” It is a medieval action drama about family loyalty and the difficult sacrifices a good leader must learn to make. “If you’re interested in sword fighting, wicked stepmothers, and kidnappings, this is the film for you,” DiGuglielmo said.

DiGuglielmo was inspired by stories such as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, and The Lord of The Rings. “Since I was a child, these fairytales have inspired me – I would run around in the woods with my best friends pretending we were knights and wizards. While making Vigil, I get to re-live that fun in a new light,” DiGuglielmo said.

She enjoys experimenting with different genres, as it gives her the opportunity to challenge herself and see how things might have been had she lived in a different time or place.

For her last film, Rook, which was featured in the Lux Mea Film Festival in 2025, she won Best Director, Best Actress, Best Narrative, Best Production Design, and Best Screenplay.  Rook is an old western style film with a twist – the lead is a female. Through the film, DiGuglielmo’s goal was to challenge the idea that women’s place in historical fiction was either to be a romantic interest or a side plot throwaway character.

In Vigil, she wants to “continue to create complex leading ladies … this time trading in the cowgirl hat and silver pistol for a shining helmet and a sharp broadsword… Vigil touches on the idea that blood isn’t always thicker than water, that what we ‘deserve’ isn’t always what we get, and that sometimes one person can be a soldier, a poet, and a king,” DiGuglielmo said.

As a Christian who loves to create, DiGuglielmo believes that “as God created us in His image, we are also called to be creators ourselves with the gifts He has given us.” She hopes to make her audience feel something through her films and inspire them to make their own art in the same way that others have inspired her.