Filmmaker Spotlight: Kamryn Sands (To Charlie, From Kamryn)
September 8, 2025
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Every year, the Charlotte Film Festival brings bold voices to the screen—but some voices echo off-screen too. In this spotlight, we’re getting to know Kamryn Sands, whose work caught our eye and stuck with us.
What led you to creating To Charlie, From Kamryn?
This story is being told because one night when I couldn’t sleep and was overwhelmed with missing my older brother, I wrote down a message to Charlie in my notes app. I felt that a weight on my chest had been lifted. I also felt the pull to try and somehow merge it into something filmmaking related, & to share with the world the reality of Charlie’s mental health & my grief.
To Charlie, From Kamryn is a reflection of my cherished memories growing up with my older brother, Charlie. Telling this story has helped me process what I couldn’t fully understand as a child and allowed me to reflect on the lasting impact of losing someone so special. Charlie meant the world to me.
This film is a letter to Charlie, who I miss every single day. I wanted to honor his laughter, his quiet sadness, and the confusing grief that followed his passing in 2012. Mental health is often misunderstood or ignored, and I hope this story can offer healing, comfort, and awareness to those who need it.
This is the most personal project I’ve ever made, and my very first. It’s based on the loss of my big brother, and creating it has been a way for me to process grief, honor his memory, and open up conversations around mental health. It has fostered a way for me to spend time with him again. As difficult as it was to revisit those memories, this film has brought me healing — and I hope it can do the same for others who’ve experienced loss or struggled in silence.
I hope to inspire others to hold their loved ones close while they’re still here, and to get the mental health help that they deserve before it’s too late.
What were some inspirations going into the creative process?
I was heavily inspired by the dysfunctional family dynamic in little miss sunshine, along with the realness and vulnerability. I knew I wanted to tell my brothers story to share mental health awareness, while also finding a way to heal in my unresolved grief. I gave me a way to spend time with him again. I wanted to channel my grief into something bigger than me, and finding others to help me bear the weight of what I was feeling.
Tell us what you hope the audience gets from this work?
I hope we inspire sparking conversations and saving lives. I want people to know that they are loved and I hope that they stay, despite their battle and struggle with mental heath. “Please stay. You are loved.”
Why is a story like this important to tell?
My brother Charlie took his own life in 2012 and I want to help others refrain from doing the same. Sometimes people don’t realize the catastrophic aftermath they leave behind. “Please stay” is a very powerful message that I want people to hear. People have been able to get to know Charlie through this project.
How did you become a filmmaker?
I have always loved acting, and when acting opportunities seemed to keep passing me by I created my own by writing a starring role for myself in my own grief focused and special story. I am excited to continue telling my family’s story, and am currently working on the feature film.
What do you want your legacy to be as a filmmaker?
I want to share powerful, real, raw, vulnerable, and hard stories so that people may find comfort and relatability in the hardships we was humans go through. I want others to not feel embarrassed to feel deep emotions. I want others to know that they matter, and the trauma they face can be turned into art.
