Screenwriter/Director/Editor/Colorist

SOL is a short film about my father coming to grips with my grandfather’s battle with Alzheimer’s. Like many other films I’ve made, this one was about something major going on in my life and my using film as a vehicle to explore the conflict and bring a sense of peace to it. I never felt that Alzheimer’s was accurately captured on screen, and I wanted to tell a story that really did. The choice of black and white for the film was done for both nostalgic purposes, as well as to bring a feeling of sadness and hopelessness to what was already a bleak story. With the exception of one day, the entire crew was made up of just me being both behind the camera and operating sound. My dad and I shot with my grandfather for five days, going through most of the interview processes repeatedly. The footage from the film is primarily composed of the last day of shooting, which was the last day I saw my grandfather. Upon the editing of this film I came to realize it was much more than just a film about Alzheimer’s, but a film about slowly loosing someone you love, and the ties that fathers and their children have. The climax of the film I still believe is one of the strongest moments I’ve captured on film. Rarely do I experience a moment where I back away from the camera and know I’ve captured something that has felt truly special, but in a film where my grandfather appears as a fog throughout, this one moment of the re-emergence of his true self stunned me then, and it continues to move me to this day.