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Phoenix filmmaker Jo Ann Lujan developed her imagination at an early age. As an only child, she was<br />
always inventing stories and coming up with characters in her head to stay entertained. However,<br />
the very things that kept her sane made her outcast among her peers. She was bullied throughout<br />
school and never quite fit in. “Everything was real imaginative to me. I lived in a different world,”<br />
said Lujan.<br />
A native Phoenician, Lujan was born at the county hospital and grew up off Van Buren and Thirteenth<br />
Street. Her household was one that inspired creativity, as she came from a family of artists. Her father<br />
was in a mariachi band and provided her with kaleidoscopes and film slides to help her develop vision and<br />
imagination. He wanted her to become a musician like him, and in school she played the trumpet and sang.<br />
Yet, she was called to do something that took her outside of herself and into the world of other people.<br />
She got her diploma from Maryvale High when she was 16 and decided to go to Spain. By the time she was<br />
22, she had backpacked throughout Europe seven times by herself. Traveling helped her develop a sense of<br />
self. At one point, she was part of a female mariachi group in New York, but her lively imagination led her to<br />
develop a love for film. What immediately drew her to film was the logical component—the technological<br />
JAVA 35<br />
MAGAZINE
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