Seventeen-year-old home school student Stahlie Calvin of Athens will soon receive national attention in San Antonio, Texas for a documentary she wrote, produced and directed.

Her documentary “Peaceful Betrayal,” a 23-minute film on the history of gun control around the world and its effect on different populations, made the cut and has taken her into the finals of the San Antonio Christian Film Festival.

Stahlie entered her first film festival, the Athens Shorts Film Festival, in October 2009. She won the youth category for “Legends of the Lost Gold,” a family legend about the Civil War set in Athens.

“Winning the Athens Shorts Film Festival was very encouraging,” Stahlie said.

This year, she said, she got ambitious and entered a documentary in an even bigger festival. She chose the subject matter for her documentary “Peaceful Betrayal” after viewing a paper with a list of how many people had suffered because of gun control.

On Sept. 18, she received the news she had been waiting for when she found out her submittal, out of a 250 entries, had made it in the top-15.

“When I entered honestly didn’t think anything would ever come of it because it is a really big film festival,” she said. “So, I was really pleased not only that I got in, but that I was in the documentary and not the youth section.”

Stahlie has purchased all the equipment she uses through work she does on the family farm and does the research for her films at home. She said she has a passion for history that includes the pharaohs of Egypt, the Civil War and much more. “The past is the key to the future,” she said.

Stahlie, who is not far from graduation, said she has always wanted to be an archeologist, but she is now leaning toward film.

“We are so proud of her,” said her father Wes Calvin. Stahlie is also the daughter of Helen Calvin and she has one sister, Darby, and two brothers, Luke and Harland.

Stahlie looks forward to attending the film festival and visiting the Alamo while in Texas for the San Antonio Film Festival Oct. 29. She has the opportunity to win up to $101,000 for her documentary.