In July, local filmmaker Chase Parker released a fantasy-fiction film, “E,” involving the downfall of the Houston-based energy company Enron, and began filming a Western Civil War-era movie called “American Fishtrap” in the same month. Parker, who has acted since he was a child, started getting more involved in the filmmaking side of the industry at age 18, he said. “I’ve loved movies throughout my whole life, and I’ve acted for as long as I can remember,” Parker said. “My agent wasn’t necessarily getting me auditions for stuff that I really wanted, so I decided I’ll write something that I really want to be in.” Originally from Los Angeles, Parker is a graduate of The Woodlands High School and will graduate from arts-centric Emerson College in Boston in December, he said. Parker thought he would study to be a doctor in college. However, after an injury prevented him from playing basketball his senior year of high school, Parker landed the lead in the school play, “You Can’t Take It With You.” That experience changed his path, he said. “That changed my life entirely because it was the first time I listened to the universe and listened to what I was being pointed at,” Parker said. “I realized I was going into medicine, not because I was passionate about it, but for the monetary value of it.” After discovering an interest in filmmaking, Parker shifted to the production side of films and continues to act when he can, he said. In 2013, Parker released a short film about a school shooting, “Left Behind,” which was selected for the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner. “I wrote, directed and played the lead in the first film that I did,” Parker said. “As time went on, I realized I wanted to focus strictly on films that I would write and direct, not trying to juggle too many things at once.” Parker also released a film based on Charles Manson’s life called “GroupLove” in 2014, which was also selected for the Cannes Short Film Corner. His 2015 film “Paladino” about a Mafia man in Boston was selected for the Cannes and Harvard film festivals. When Parker writes for films in which his friends are cast, he said he tries to write characters that will challenge them. “I like to give them challenges as well—not just to challenge myself as a filmmaker—but to give them challenging roles that … will take work,” Parker said. “That way, we can grow between each project.” Looking past graduation, Parker has been cast in a play at Stages Theatre in Houston and will be collaborating on an upcoming film already in its preproduction phase, Parker said. He is also working on an original project focused on his time at The Woodlands High School, he said. “I love it,” Parker said. “It’s taken me to places I never thought I’d go before. I think the best thing that’s come out of it is the people I’ve met. It’s been so much fun to learn about a medium that’s growing very heavily in our country and meet people that are just as passionate about it.”