ABOUT THE FILM

My first featue, LAST SUMMER, was an attempt to reimagine first love as something idyllic, perfect, and normalized. Though I still think back on that film fondly, I recognize it is a fantasy. With DRAGONSLAYER, I aimed to tell the truth of my experience as a teenager growing up in Arkansas in the 90s, searching for some kind of intimacy wherever I could find it.

My graduate thesis film at the University of Central Arkansas, it is a period piece shot for a few thousand dollars with a minimal crew, handheld cameras, one vintage 25mm lens, and only practical lights. It was inspired by my love of Lars Von Trier’s BREAKING THE WAVES, the film that, in 1996, made me decide to be a filmmaker.

DRAGONSLAYER is my darkest film and one of my messiest, but despite its flaws, it is probably my favorite of all the films I’ve made. More than any other, it captures the feelings that shaped me into the person I am today.

SYNOPSIS

In rural Arkansas in the late 1990s -- a time marked by Satanic Panic, Y2K hysteria, the AIDS crisis, and the beginnings of the mainstream internet -- a gay teenager agrees to drive his only friend to a meeting with a stranger from an online chatroom, while battling his own romantic feelings.

TECHNICAL

2019 | 36 minutes | 1.85:1 | Digital 4K

CONTENT WARNING

Graphic sexuality, adult language, adult situations involving minors