Filmmaker Statement

I wrote and directed “Allie & I” alongside my dear friend, actor, and musician Kyle Harvey. Together we developed the idea during the lockdowns of 2020 after we both began to realize how social media, and more specifically its algorithm, was warping our view of the world. We were upset with how social media was altering our behavior, and we wanted to tell a story about it. From the beginning it was important that we didn’t hit the viewer over the head so we decided to frame the film as a psychological thriller about a toxic relationship. Through the use of genre we layered our commentary on humanity’s need for love, and how a loss of power occurs in relationships when that need for love is taken advantage of. On the surface this is as a scintillating tale of a relationship gone wrong, but on a more cerebral level it is as an allegory for the insidious effects social media’s algorithm has on our mental health. My hope is that viewers will experience the movie on both!