Filmmaker Statement

"Three Ninety Five" began as an exercise in visual storytelling - due to my background in writing and live theater, I felt deficient in my cinematography literacy and conceived this story as a way to force myself to pick up the camera myself for the first time and sink or swim based on how well I could use it in a dialogue-free scenario. I knew the landscapes along the real 395 highway and the intrigue of the character had immense potential if I could fulfill them. The primary influence was the films of Hayao Miyazaki. The making of the film was an adventure - just myself, one performer, and one crew person traveling the highway for three days with no permits and just the gear we could fit in one SUV; I wanted to see what kind of creativity could be unleashed within those limitations. What we came back was this moving, splendid-looking immersion into a world of struggle and hope, of a spark of humanity protected by a not-quite-human character in a majestic landscape.