Petaluma-Raised ‘Backrooms’ Director Always ‘Very Bright,’ Say His Film Teachers
Just four years ago, after coming back to school from Christmas break, Kane Parsons was sitting in Philip Chidel’s classroom at Marin School of the Arts in Novato, showing the class his latest personal project on YouTube: The Backrooms (Found Footage).
Fast-forward to 2026, and the 20-year-old, Petaluma-raised director has broken multiple box office records, with his feature-film debut Backrooms boasting an $81 million domestic opening weekend. Globally, his film earned a whopping $118 million.
Chidel, Parsons’s film teacher from fall of 2019 through spring of 2022, first met Parsons at an interview for his film program at Marin School for the Arts (MSA) when he was still in eighth grade.
“He was very smart, very bright,” Chidel told KQED. “He showed me a couple of his visual effects stuff that he was, you know, self-taught on Blender. It’s pretty impressive that he would just take that initiative at that age, and he already had a following and was very driven and dedicated — even then.”
Parsons had confidence, too. Chidel’s room is decorated with various movie posters, and Parsons once told Chidel that one day, a poster for one of his own movies would be up there next to the others.
A drive to keep creating
At the time, Parsons had two years of experience in KTV Media Production classes at Kenilworth Junior High in Petaluma, where he and fellow students cycled through different production roles, collaborating with one another to produce student news.
His teacher at Kenilworth, Isaac Raya, oversaw the seventh grade class, and was unaware of Parsons’ interest in filmmaking until a colleague asked if he’d seen Parsons’ YouTube channel, Kane Pixels.
“Most of the kids do have lots of creativity,” Raya told KQED. “But what they don’t have is the drive to keep on creating. And then to keep on going in a very specific direction, which is what Kane did in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. That is what is most impressive to me, was his drive to keep on creating elements of the story, and that he had written episodes.”
In Raya’s class, Parsons made a short film, Cave, that won a first-place award in a Petaluma City Schools district contest. Raya recalls being “amazed” by Parsons’ work, and his ability to learn and use tools – like Adobe Suite – that weren’t taught in his class.
While an 8th grader at Kenilworth taught by Laura Bradley, Parsons’ short film “Late for School” won the the district’s 5-Minute Film Festival in the 7th–12th grade category, as well as first place at the California Student Media Festival for the Middle School Craft Fiction category.
‘He lives, eats, sleeps, and breathes film’
It came as no surprise, then, when Parsons was accepted into the MSA film program, where he continued to refine his work. When views on Parsons’ original Backrooms video skyrocketed, gaining attention from the internet and potential producers, Chidel was “over the moon,” and mentored him through the increasing interest in his work.
But his sense of pride came way before Parsons’ mainstream success.
“Kane, from day one, has always been sort of obsessively dedicated to everything he does,” Chidel said. “I mean, he lives, eats, sleeps, and breathes film.” (Parsons, who made a surprise visit to Petaluma’s Boulevard Cinemas over opening weekend, has said in interviews that he worked 21-hour days to finalize Backrooms before its release.)
That dedication is paying off. At 20, Parsons is now the youngest director ever to have a No. 1 global box office film. He can also claim the biggest opening weekend for an original feature film made by a first-time director.
In a full-circle moment, Parsons invited Chidel to Los Angeles for the premiere of Backrooms. Chidel was happy to report that despite the film being a big Hollywood feature, it was still very much representative of the Parsons he knew.
“Five days ago, so many people outside of the internet world didn’t know who Kane was. They didn’t even know what Backrooms was,” Chidel said. “And now, suddenly, he’s like the next Spielberg or the next George Lucas, you know? And frankly, in my mind, rightfully so.”
