VERMONT is the product of a long rumination around the relationship between desire and distance. I wanted to challenge myself to create something that was personal and potent as well as to reach outside my immediate circle to find new collaborators.
What came out of this was a reliance on new and old friends. We shot all over the city at all hours of the day and night, in and out of apartments, studio spaces, and subway cars.
I’m especially thankful for the immediate trust and support from @rybreadhead whose involvement got this film up and running. He leads an ensemble cast consisting primarily of queer non-actors who met for the first time on set. The theme of anonymity provided room for the performers’ identities to shape their characters, infusing the production and on-screen encounters with a sense of authenticity, intimacy, and possibility.
🌃🏔️🛋️✂️🚦🪑🍷
Poster by @dwcwd ❤️
Film stills by @scuba_rob
We will be having a reunion screening of VERMONT tomorrow afternoon at @singersny to celebrate the film now streaming on the @criterioncollection 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️❤️🥀🌃✂️🚦🌖🍷💫
5PM in the back shed. Come thru!
I’m very excited to share that Vermont will have its world premiere at @indielisboa next month. 🐦⬛❤️🔥
The film will screen in the Silvestre program along some incredible works. Very honored to be in the same category as filmmakers like Hong Sang-Soo and Nathan Silver.
INTIMATE VIEWS was conceived as a narrative experiment in form and structure—particularly the structure of a relationship. I was interested in the fascination we have with exploring another’s space and how the residue of a couple can shape or affect another. Unfolding like the pages of a home catalog or online listing, scenes stem from the rooms themselves, the objects and devices inside them, and the people who pass through them.
The film was shot at a house in the woods over six months. For a while, I thought this film was cursed. We suffered a lot of setbacks (the first video frame documents the death of a camera). In hindsight, the extended production allowed the film to flourish. As the seasons progressed, we became more familiar with our backdrop—knowing when the sunlight would hit certain rooms and developing new scenes that imitated the life that was being lived there.
Through it all, many people got involved to help me make this. At the center, there was always Beth, Bob, Rob, Noah, Kyle, Cody, and Blanche. We grew closer together as we created our own version of home and got into a lot of antics.
🏡🍂🐈⬛🍤🍃🪟
Film and BTS stills by @scuba_rob
The breadth of the narrative in EXIT 9 was captured through exploring small town American landscapes and was supported by the real life personalities of the cast, many of whom were friends and family members. Leading the ensemble was fellow filmmaker @smiley_snot , making her debut starring role in yellow. 💛
Our ragtag production crew shlepped all around CT and southern Mass to many hidden gem locations, particularly a dreamy indoor golf palace. We often overstayed our welcome at these places, indulging in our shared love for movie-making and the fun times we were having.
Shot over three weekends in the spring of 2016, this was a very delicate time that I look back on with lots of joy, emulating the many smiles shown in these screen grabs between takes.
⛳️🚛🪧🛣️📍
Film stills by @scuba_rob
BTS shots by @birthdaymoney
New Screening Alert 🛣️🏡🌃
Points of Interest—happening on Saturday, October 7th at 2:30pm at the Anthology Film Archives.
Consisting of three shorts that I’ve made over the last seven years: EXIT 9, Intimate Views, and Vermont. All shot on 16mm ( by collaborator/best friend @scuba_rob ), each one revolves around a distinctive location that serves as either a tangible backdrop or a symbolic journey's end.
⛳️🎱📍✨🐈🍂✂️🖼️🏔️
Flyer by @dwcwd 🌻
