‘WHAT IF’
By Chris Wadsworth
A couple of aspiring filmmakers have produced their first local short film, and the setting they chose is a popular local coffeeshop.
Aaryaman Patel and Juan David Campolargo graduated from the University of Illinois in 2024 and moved to Ashburn Farm because they have family in the area. Although the young men majored in engineering, they found some amount of campus fame thanks to a popular YouTube show they created. The more they learned about the production process – lights, cameras, microphones – the more hooked they became.
“We didn’t have any film classes or anything like that, but we’ve always just been curious and creative,” Campolargo said.
Their local movie is called “What If” and they filmed the roughly 3-minute, 20-second short inside SR Coffee Co., a coffeeshop in the Ashburn Farm Market Center near the Giant supermarket. It’s about a missed opportunity to connect with another person and the trepidation that can grip us all from time to time.
“Many young people feel caught between being ‘too cool’ to approach someone or ‘too scared’ to inconvenience them,” Campolargo said.
Patel and Campolargo are already hard at work on their next film – a full-length feature instead of a short. It’s an aggressive choice, but they say they learn best by jumping in and just doing something. They also admit choosing Ashburn as a place to start making films is a bit unorthodox versus Los Angeles or New York, but they’re happy with their choice.
“I think you can tell great stories here,” Patel said. “Every city has its own feel. Ashburn has its own essence and there is a particular type of story that you can only tell here.”
Watch the short film “What If” on YouTube at: tinyurl.com/WhatIfFilm