Synopsis: In the Iron Range of Minnesota, 12yo Michael is just learning to flirt with girls and find his place among his friends, when one night his mother is badly hurt. Desperate to fix what happened, Michael tries to become a man in a world where he learns some men cause harm.
Director Bio:
Tessa Blake is an award-winning filmmaker and television director (American Horror Story, A Million Little Things, Veronica Mars). Chosen as one of eight women for AFI’s prestigious Directing Workshop for Women, Tessa’s films have premiered at Cannes and SXSW, have won awards at Nantucket Film Festival and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, have been honored by the Academy, and been released theatrically.
As a writer, she has enjoyed script deals with ABC, NBC, FOX and Warner Brothers.
Tessa has directed plays for Naked Angels Theater Company and The Atlantic Theater Company, is a proud alumna of the 24 Hour Plays, and a founding advisor for The Moth.
Director Statement: “
Introduced by the film’s producers to the Scottish novel CLOSED DOORS by Lisa O’Donnell, I was passionately drawn to the story about a small community impacted by events of violence against women. Since the rise of #metoo, I’ve sought to find ways to include boys in the conversation. And here was this beautiful book with the perspective of a 12 year old kid on his way to becoming a man with all the normal impulses of attraction and aggression, who is forced to see the world – and his place in it – differently because of what one man did to two women.
Because of their prevalence, we’re inured to these stories…victims and perpetrators. But Michael is neither. Seeing the world through his eyes, allows us a new experience, a bracing, original perspective of a familiar story.
With intentional simplicity, I endeavored to stitch the viewer to Michael’s perspective using my collaborators’ experiences of boyhood.
We shot with one camera, operated by my cinematographer Carlo Rinaldi. Valentin Hadjadj wrote the score in Michael’s voice, lacing through how Michael might one day reflect on it. Editorially, Nate Whiteside and I used the heartbeat of the kids for the rhythm of the film.
But the most radical departure from this all-too-familiar narrative was my choice to withhold the obvious conclusion. It’s a whodunnit without the who. By eliminating the expected third act, the audience is forced to embrace the more profound questions of the film – how do we survive or thrive, once we confront the deepest truth… that justice is an illusion. But our connection to each other is not.”
