The Reconnection

Amia Datts-Voluntad is a Maui based high school filmmaker whose focus is to make films that showcase the true character of Jesus while making people think in a deeper, more profound way.
As a child, Amia developed a passion for storytelling by creating plays and videos with her dolls using her parents’ old camera. Continuing her acting pursuits, she starred in a variety of stage roles before being cast in her first short film role as Desireé in “Iron Play,” directed by Jasmine McLaurin.
With her growing interests in performing arts, Amia trained in ballet, contemporary, jazz, and hip-hop from 2012 through 2017 at Addicted to Dance, Philadelphia Dance Theater, and The Rock School for Dance Education. After completing her dance training, Amia traveled to Mexico on a mission trip. This significant and purposeful adventure reignited her drive for writing and filmmaking.
In 2017, Amia’s family moved to Maui and she joined an environmental film club, Maui Huli’au Foundation (MHF). While a member of MHF, she completed two award-winning films, "Earth Doctor" (2018) and "The Ocean: Our Foundation '' (2018).
During her first two years of high school, Amia wrote, directed, produced, and acted in her own independent short films, including, "In the Belly of the Beast" (2020), "The Search" (2020), and "Wake Up" (2021).
Her short film, “Silence” (2021), starring Ayana Milkias, has been accepted into the Flint Youth Film Festival, the Hawai’i International Film Festival, and won the Best Actress Award in the Newark International Film Festival Youth Festival. Her most recent short Film "The Reconnection" has so far been accepted into the Hawaiian International Film Festival and the Christian Youth Film Festival and will be available to the public later this year.
Currently, Amia funds her work by doing various freelance gigs. This includes commercial videography, product photography, documentary and narrative filmmaking, video editing for the Pacific Whale Foundation, and videography for the Auwahi Forest Restoration Project on Maui. In 2018, she founded Written Truth Productions with the aim of creating thought-provoking and moving films that point people to Jesus as their Lord and Savior.