Stay

Alice and Zach discover each other in the most unlikeliest of places – the cemetery – and a spark of romance begins to fill the void of loss.

Alice and Zach’s journey loosely remind me of Marianne and Connel’s relationship in the BBC Series Normal People. It had an essence of a uniquely bonded friendship through proximity of two souls who were unlikely to find themselves together, and yet here they are. There’s something pure and innocent about the way Zach and Alice bond, and how willing they are to show their scars in a way the rest of the living world has overlooked them. And that when they are together, the world around them ceases to exist.

In telling this story I leveraged the handheld nature of the camera to create intimacy through proximity and framing. I spent a lot of time coming in close, so we could be moved experientially as Alice and Zach ((played by remarkable actors Megan McKenzie and Tim Dougherty) go from absolute strangers to love interests over the course of the day. The shared eyelines and stolen looks heightens the feeling of excitement and in their rawness and awkward moments we are drawn in.

Ultimately neither Alice nor Zach will be a replacement for the deep loss they’ve experienced in missing their family members…but they have found each other, and are no longer alone. When they chose to STAY, they chose a new path toward healing and love. It is in lending a piece of yourself, in remaining open, that one may begin to heal. And a little bit of chemistry never hurts.