logline
A loveless Entity, forced to body-hop between people experiencing alcoholic blackouts, meets a fellow wanderer who embraces the chaos. Now, before the booze fades and sobriety separates them forever, can our Entity learn to accept their fate?
our existence is temporary…
we live on through our time spent with others.
about
What if We Could Stay is a Surreal-Hopeful-Scifi-Dramedy that deals with our need for connection in a world where it is easier than ever to isolate.
Sam is Sam is Sam…in any body…in any part of the world. They seamlessly travel from one blacked-out body to another.
Sam hates this. They feel completely alienated from the lives they see everyone else experiencing…
until they meet Grace.
Grace is another Entity who shares their plight. Only Grace embraces their fate. They roll with it. Sometimes they even make life a little better for the bodies they are inhabiting.
Sam is entranced by Grace’s spirit. They take to the night and keep drinking so they can stay with each other. For the first time, Sam feels connection. Sam’s heart opens to the possibility that maybe this life is worth living.
Eventually, the booze runs its course, but Sam is forever changed.
director’s statement
This is not a story about alcohol.
I know, because I used to drink a lot. Like, a LOT. When I was abusing booze and drugs, it was a symptom of a much larger issue: A longing. A feeling of separateness. I felt like I was uniquely unequipped to handle life. The seed of addiction sprouts with isolation.
That’s what drew me to this story. For a long time in my life, I was Sam. Rudderless, chip firmly on my shoulder, looking at everyone’s external lives and comparing that with how I felt inside.
This is somewhat an oversimplification, but what finally pulled me out of my isolation, my depression, and my addiction was connection with other people. Finally realizing I wasn’t alone in my experience. Now I find purpose in how I can better the lives of others. It’s how I approach the filmmaking process and it’s how I approach the stories I want to tell as a filmmaker.
I believe our human experience centers in connection.
Unlike Sam, I don’t bounce from body to body, but when I’m at my best I recognize every person I encounter has hopes, dreams, people they care about, and challenges to face. When I step outside myself and think of others, my life feels more meaningful.
I’m excited to bring this story to an audience because it’s much more than a love story. Sam and Grace find each other and their souls connect, but it’s deeper than love at first sight. It’s two souls truly seeing each other, authentically connecting. In this connection Sam finds their purpose.
What if We Could Stay is about our search for meaning, and finding it in how our lives can benefit others.
