Before I Go

Director's Statement

Sometimes projects find their way to you in a wonderfully unexpected way, and this happens to be the case with 'Before I Go'. I was on my way to lunch at my day job at an NGO, when I bumped into a co-worker, Lauren, on the stairs. She and her creative partner Nick had written a short film in which they would also act and they were looking for a producer. Lauren knew I was a filmmaker and asked if I could make some recommends. She sent me a draft of the script and though it still needed work, the film’s heartbeat was strong. I was immediately drawn to the story and the plight of the characters, especially Frank - a retired farmer, who had lived through drought and was now facing the realities of the final decade of his life. There was something about him that broke my heart and reminded me of my own father, and yet they were from completely different walks of life. What they shared in common were the glimpses of vulnerability and a longing for connection hidden deep beneath a hardened exterior that had built up over an entire lifetime. 'Before I Go' is the story of one family who are impacted by mental health issues, and yet it could also be the story of any family: how do we care for and love one another when we struggle to share who we really are and ask for what we need? It was this simple universal quality about the story that called out to me the most. So rather than recommending a producer for Lauren and Nick's passion project, I ended up pitching them a vision and asking if I could join them as the director instead. I’m humbled that they trusted me enough to say yes. Together, we were able to bring this story to life thanks to a community of generous supporters and a collective of wonderful collaborators, many of whom were drawn to the project because they too had personally experienced the impact that mental illness can have on people’s lives. Stories and films have the potential to offer profound and transformative ways for us to understand and express our experience of life. Not just through the finished pieces themselves, but also in the making of them. Working on this film has taught me that mental illness is far more common than any of us realise and that people, and especially men, are still often suffering in silence. In this current climate, as discussions around gender become increasingly divisive, it feels important to keep an open dialogue about all the ways in which patriarchal systems create unnecessary suffering for both women and men. In this film, the misconceptions of masculinity and the pressure to “be a man" play a key factor in the way the characters interact with each other and struggle in their lives. Our story may be short but its message runs deep. This is a film that was made from the heart and above all else our greatest hope is that it finds a way to speak to yours.