Director’s Statement

Great Light is a southern gothic melodrama about secret cycles of abuse and the rare moments of courage and conflict that bring that abuse to light. It was shot in Kentucky during the 2017 total solar eclipse. My mother, Kimberley Glass, plays the lead role loosely based on her and I hope her strength commands the attention it deserves when people watch it. 

Director’s Statement

The Burden is inspired by the classical Hollywood musicals that I loved to watch when I was growing up. the theme is darker, however, dealing with boredom, loneliness, and existential anxiety. I mainly wanted to shed light upon the kind of pointless, underpaid labour that exists everywhere but is seldom paid attention to. If these employees were to suddenly find themselves in a musical, what would they sing about? It has taken me over two years to finish the film with all of the animation, models, and puppets made by hand. 

Director’s Statement

A good friend once told me how much it had horrified her when, as a child, a family friend had described her mother as a “witch.” It was the first time anyone had spoken badly of her mother in front of her. It’s so easy to capture a child’s imagination or use them as a pawn in a battle between parents. We wanted to explore a mother’s psychology and the effect her storytelling has on her child. 

Director’s Statement

Using my interest in the desert, reptiles, and bowling, I tried to concoct a vision of what it’s like to reconcile the opposing voices that are at war in my head. Voices that, sometimes, try to convince me that I can and ought to seize control by using force. Tortoise is about becoming enslaved to and subsequently being crushed by such a voice. 

Director’s Statement

When I first wrote Falling, it was a writing exercise, not something I actually intended to make. It started as a way of exploring and processing things going on in our culture that are both horrible and completely normal. The result is simultaneously rooted in our modern reality, but shifts abruptly into the surreal—which felt like the only fitting way to capture this moment. 

Director’s Statement

Who are the people building the homes of America? Where did they come from? Who hired them? The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 21 million people around the world are trapped in jobs into which they were coerced or deceived, and which they cannot leave. Contractors and employers become traffickers of labor, making false promises of high-paying jobs and luring desperate people into atrocious working conditions. Debris seeks to break the stereotypical notion that labor trafficking only happens somewhere else.