In November, filmmaker Andrea Torrice’s film, Trees in Trouble (2016), about the threat invasive species pose to the health of tree populations, won First Prize at the First International Film Festival of the Urban Forest held in Mantova, Italy. It is one of the many honors that Andrea has received over the years and is an outstanding achievement by any standard. For Andrea, however, who built a career in film after being diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, an early-onset form of macular degeneration, this award is especially poignant and hard-earned. In the following interview, which is excerpted from a longer interview you can find in our archives, Andrea discusses the roots of her interest in filmmaking, the diagnosis of Stargardt’s that devastated her when she was only 26, and how she slowly built a career in visual storytelling after having been advised by her eye doctor to find a new career because of her vision loss.