Article
May 4, 2026
Written by Sydney Kern
Reel Ambition, Spring Graduate turns his Vision into Feature Films
Senior Carlito Hale is taking his knowledge of theatre studies to direct his way to the big screen
Explore four other exceptional graduates who forged different paths and overcame obstacles to reach their goals.
“Take one. Scene 28-2. Action.”
With a quick snapping of a film board, marking what scene is being shot, senior Carlito Hale is commanding the room. Inside a Greeley Airbnb, he is directing three actors and a cinematographer, filming his second feature-length film, which he also wrote. He has marked where the actors need to stand, adjusted the camera angle and controlled how much light is in the room. And now he lets his cast take his words into action.
I can do this forever,” Hale said.
Not many college students can say they are feature-length movie makers while attending classes. Hale began honing his skills in 2020 by writing scripts. But back then, his life looked a lot different from what it does now as a Theatre Studies major at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC).
Six years ago, Hale was attending Community Christian College in Redlands, California, to play football — a passion he developed growing up in Georgia. It was the school’s first year having a football team, and Hale was playing wide receiver. With the program being new, the team was scheduled to play just three games. However, pandemic-related disruptions reduced that to only one.
“We won 30 to 0, so it was really exciting, but that’s all we got,” Hale said.
So, it was time for Hale to switch settings and pursue his movie-making dreams. This act, though, also had some conflicts.
Hale applied to Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York, and was accepted. He thought everything was set up — the finances, his housing and his flight. But when he walked into the admissions office, he was told he owed $15,000 and since he couldn’t pay the fee, he had to fly back home to Colorado that same day.
“It was terrible,” Hale said. “It was definitely a very humbling experience. But right when I got back, I applied to UNC and began classes in the spring of 2023.”
His life ever since has been much more stable and storied. While in Greeley, he has written and directed three short films and one feature film in just two years.
“I said, ‘OK, let’s try this again. I have the resources here at UNC, and I have the talent around me in the College of Performing and Visual Arts, and I realized, ‘whoa, I can actually do this,’” Hale said.
His first feature-length film is PipeDreem – a story about an ambitious young woman with her sights set on making it on Broadway. The film took seven months to make, and Hale didn’t have to go far to understand how passionate and determined people who have this goal can be.
At UNC, Hale is learning alongside many students who want to make theater their career, and he says he has learned a lot from working with his classmates.
“Last semester I was in a directing class where I learned how to communicate with actors on set, and how to explain how you want them to tell the story,” Hale said. “That’s the connection between theater and film, communication with the actors is key.”
His classes also taught him about the business side of theater, which has perfectly translated to what he needed to know about the business side of film. However, no matter how much knowledge and grit Hale poured into PipeDreem, he still had some hurdles to overcome.
PipeDreem was supposed to debut in a Denver movie theater last January, but a large fire at a nearby building forced the theater to close, causing him to cancel his screening. But as the saying goes, ‘the show isn’t over until the curtain falls. UNC’s University Program Council, a student-fee funded organization that plans special events for students and the university community, stepped in and planned a new film screening at the Kress Cinema in Greeley – welcoming Hale and his audience with a red carpet and featuring a Q&A event following the movie.
“I was so nervous,” Hale said. “I couldn’t believe people were seeing my first feature film. I was doubting the film for months, I was my biggest critic, but seeing people watch it and cry to it, it reminded me what my calling is.”
Now, in his new film, Something from Somewhere, Somewhere from Some Place, the one partially being shot in a Greeley Airbnb, Hale is focusing on a more dramatic theme than he’s used to, tackling a story about childhood trauma.
“I want it to be very intimate, about a daughter whose mother left and that weighs heavy on her father,” Hale said. “I got the idea after I decided that I wanted to make a film where my protagonist was going to be in every single scene and that’d be kind of hard to do, so I wanted to challenge myself in the writing process.”
He anticipates finishing the movie in August, which means he will have two 90-minute feature films under his belt shortly after graduating.
“I am just so blessed,” Hale said. “The community in Greeley has helped me with shooting locations and film budgets, people have introduced me to others in the industry and UNC students have acted in my films. There is so much support, and I appreciate it a lot.”
The Backdrop to Hale’s Success
Growing up, Carlito describes his love for football as his physical escape from reality and his love for watching movies as his mental escape. That contrast has shaped his life ever since.
But it was his grandfather who first showed him that a career in film was a possibility.
“My mom’s dad was a poet, a writer and he was in a movie called Great Balls of Fire,” said Hale. “He died in 1990, and I truly believe he lives through me spiritually. His dreams and aspirations live in me.”
Family and film have always had an emotional connection for Hale. Moving from Georgia to Memphis and then to Denver, Hale remembers watching movies with his siblings on a portable DVD player and how that experience felt like home, regardless of where they were.
“The first movie I ever saw was Finding Nemo, but the first movie that I thought was amazing was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” Hale said. “I was just blown away. It shows what you can do with cinema, bringing something that is not real and throwing it on the screen. It’s amazing.”
His love continued into watching films directed by Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan, Ryan Coogler and John Singleton.
“Fun fact, John Singleton was nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards at the age of 24, and I’m 24 now, so that’s my inspiration,” Hale said.
That goal isn’t too far out of reach. After graduating from UNC, Hale will continue his education at DePaul University in Chicago to study film.
“It’s exciting, and it’s scary to be honest,” Hale said. “I’ve only been doing this for two years now, and there’s always more to learn, always more to understand and I’m just so ready for it.”
After that, he plans to use the knowledge, skills and experience he’s gained to make his way to the big screen. He is the director of his own life, after all. Until then, we’re left with a cliffhanger.
