'Impact,' directed by Dallin Hansen

Title screen from 'Impact'Taken from 'Impact'

Impact, directed by Prosper High School student Dallin Hansen, is a short documentary exploring the future of NASA and the purpose of the work they do. The film is a finalist in the High School Documentary category of the 2023 MY HERO International Film Festival.

The film features an interview with NASA flight director Brandon Lloyd; Hansen posed the question of what NASA’s true purpose is, and how they hope to benefit humanity. Lloyd discusses current projects happening at NASA, his favourite program at NASA, and how their work will impact the future of humanity.

MY HERO reached out to Dallin Hansen, the film’s director, producer, and editor, to find out more about the creation of Impact. On why he decided to feature a flight director from NASA, Hansen explained:

“All my life I’ve looked to the stars and wondered what it might be like to be up there, and what might be out there. I wanted to share a bit of the wonder I felt with the world and hopefully bring attention to NASA and what it can do in the future given the time and resources. The idea for Impact specifically stemmed from a desire to tell others about the benefits of NASA and share my thoughts on how it can help the world. It started off as more of a general thing I thought might be fun and transformed into a passion project for me and in my opinion one of the best films I have ever made, certainly the best I’ve been able to make on my own.” 

One of the biggest challenges that Hansen faced in creating the film was finding an interviewee to become the subject of the film. Hansen was eventually put in touch with Brandon Lloyd through one of his teachers, Mr. Hatch. He had heard Hansen discussing the problem with his teacher, Mr. Logan, and told Hansen that his brother-in-law was a flight director at NASA. As soon as the opportunity arose, Hansen contacted Lloyd to organize an interview and Lloyd was more than happy to get involved. 

“It was great working with Brandon,” Hansen told MY HERO, adding, “He answered and expanded upon all my questions greatly, giving me far more to work with than I could have ever hoped for, even touching on the inter-planetary nature humanity might follow and the international cooperation necessary for such a thing. […] It was an honor [to speak with him].”

Lloyd offered so much insight, in fact, that Hansen had trouble decided what to cut from the hour-long interview!

“To be honest, the hardest part of the whole project was figuring out what to cut, because there was quite a lot I loved from the interview and was sad to see some of it be left on the cutting room floor in order to accommodate the time limit.”

On whether he has a personal hero, Hansen explained to MY HERO that, “My teacher Mr. Logan has been a great inspiration for me. He helps bring me out of my comfort zone and realize that if I put hard work into what I do, then I can succeed.”

On being a finalist at the MY HERO International Film Festival, Hansen said, “Getting into this festival was a huge inspiration for me as well, because I have never done this well in any competition before. I’m glad for Logan's constant help and advice so that I can reach outside of what I would normally do and make something worthy of such a grand festival.” 

Dallin Hansen, creator of 'Impact'Michael Logan, with permission

As well as Impact, Hansen has also worked on a film for the All-American High School Film Festival called Don’t You Know What Lengths I’ll Go, and numerous stop-motion films.

You can watch Impact here.  

About the MY HERO International Film Festival: 

The My Hero Film Festival is an annual event dedicated to showcasing films that celebrate the power of the human spirit. Hosted by Eva Haller, a prominent philanthropist and advocate for social change, the festival provides a platform for filmmakers to share inspirational stories of everyday heroes. Thanks to generous sponsors, prizes are awarded to elementary, middle school, high school, college and professionals in a variety of categories including documentary, narrative, music video, animation, experimental, and more. 

The festival aims to inspire audiences to recognize the heroism in their own lives and encourage positive actions in their communities. Learn more.