As the grandson of Power of the Pen founders Frank and Lorraine Merrill, Noah Dixon grew up surrounded by creativity. And when he reached 7^th grade, it was natural that he would participate on the team at Roosevelt Middle School in Springfield.

His experiences with the group fostered a love of storytelling. “I have many fond memories traveling to tournaments and meeting creative writers from other schools around Ohio,” he says. “Power of the Pen gave me the opportunity to use my imagination in a way that I had never done before. It allowed me to create new worlds and characters.”

A Passion for Moviemaking

Image by Zane Oser

After high school, Noah intended to study music at Denison University in Granville, envisioning a future as a composer of film scores. But after taking a few film classes at Denison, Noah discovered that his true love is moviemaking. “I am passionate about film because it is a medium which allows me to combine many forms of art – screenwriting, music, photography, and more,” he says.

Noah and several of his Denison classmates formed a production company, Loose Films, after graduating from college. Their film POSER, created by Noah Dixon and Ori Segev, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2021. A thriller set in the Columbus indie music scene, POSER is “Absolutely brimming with style, atmosphere and a healthy dose of dry, laugh out loud humor,” according to Liza Domnitz of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Noah drew on his own interests in writing the script. “I created a narrative based on a world that I knew,” he says. “It was both fun and challenging to create a plot and characters based on real people and locations in Columbus.”

A World Premier

The team hadn’t expected to be accepted into Tribeca when they submitted POSER for consideration. “It was very surreal traveling to New York and watching it with a full audience for the first time,” Noah says.

Being immersed in a creative environment is one aspect of moviemaking that Noah enjoys the most. “The best part about working on the film was collaborating with so many other talented artists and musicians,” he says. “There is something very special about dozens of talented people pouring their hearts into a film, and I am so happy that we have been able to share POSER around the world.”

Image of Ori Segev (left) and Noah Dixon by Anthony Codispotti