Filmmaker Statement

In my work as a narrative director, I’ve always been drawn to dark stories with a psychological layer. So there was something immediately appealing when my writing partner, Matthew Branning, shared the initial idea with me: driving someone to the brink of madness with a simple childish game. That was more than ten years ago. Since then, we developed the idea into a short story and ultimately a screenplay. There’s a mesmerizing eeriness in the story that keeps much of the world it portrays in the shadows. As in life, myriad details in this film remain hidden in the darkness. Not only visually, but contextually as well. Beautifully captured by the incredibly talented DoP Joe Douglas, the compelling faces of our two protagonists are only revealed to the viewer by street and dashboard lights. Constantly striving for the perfect balance between light and shadow, dreamscape and reality, Joe succeeded in bringing this story to life in an almost painterly fashion.