Hagop Kaneboughazian is a young man used to challenging people to see things differently. From an early age he has built this skill into an art which he now channels into his daily animation work.

Kaneboughazian was born in Beirut, Lebanon and moved to the United States at the age of 10. He has been pursuing his dreams ever since; never losing the thread that attaches him to his birthplace, he uses his digital animation skills to convey messages through films.

Now 26, he is an SF State alumnus who earned his degree in cinema in fall of 2003. A project he started during his last semester at SF State was screened at the Armenian Film Festival earlier this month at the Delancey Street Theater in San Francisco. His movie “Ara’s Flight” will also be sold on his web site in the next few months.

“Ara’s Flight,” is an animated short film that tells the story of a 6-year-old boy who lives alone in an abandoned orphanage and dreams of flying. The boy makes himself wings and follows two doves off the top of the building and into the sky to an implied fate of death.

The film is characterized by plays of light, colorful flowers and stimulating visual imagery that conveys overall beauty, which contrasts sharply with the sad tone of the story.

“For me the film is about Armenian genocide but it doesn’t have to read that way for everyone,” Kaneboughazian said. “What I’m proud of is that it can be anything to anyone who’s watching, it doesn’t preach or try to impose guilt. It’s left open for interpretation.”

A lover of X-Men comics and the traditional arts of drawing and painting, Kaneboughazian has had a passion for movie making since he was a young child. He said he used to make movies using a camcorder, action figures, and Legos and screen them for his friends. Today he finds inspiration not only from Pixar and Disney, but also from masters like Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci.

Martha Gorzycki, professor and head of the animation program at SF State, remembers “Kane” as a leader who inspired others to reach for new levels of sophistication and creativity in their work.

“Carrying a film or animation project to fruition is really a very difficult thing to do. Taking it from the concept stage all the way to the big screen involves a lot of commitment – studios look for people who have this type of creativity and passion. It is very exciting to see (this) happen for any student,” Gorzycki said.

Kaneboughazian encourages students to stick with their passions and said that finding people who want to share and collaborate on a project makes it a fun and more attainable goal.

He said to remember that it takes time to reach your goals but even if you’re serving coffee to drones in the morning and working on your film all night, there will be rewards if you persevere.

“Seeing your film with an audience for the first time is as close to having an orgasm with a group of strangers as you can get,” he said. “And all the sacrifice is worth it.”