Filmmaker Statement

When we made our documentary "Father Can’t You See I’m Burning?" it was the first time we spoke openly about growing up in an alcoholic household. However, there were aspects of our story we did not feel could be held by the documentary form. With Summer’s End, we wanted to look at the repression within alcoholic families with an empathetic lens and further explore the challenges of queerness in the south. To show how each member of a dysfunctional family hides their secrets and reckons with their shame. It was important for us to connect to our memory and experiences by shooting at Myrtle beach, SC, a destination we know intimately from our own vacations growing up. The filmmakers we were influenced by most in the making of this movie were Lynne Ramsay, Gus Van Sant, Xavier Dolan, David Lynch, and Eric Rohmer.