In the wake of a school shooting, two women remain in the ICU awaiting the fates of their sons. A cathartic conversation begins to unravel secrets about their small town, their boys, and themselves.

The topic is always a sensitive one, one that not many will dare to make a film on. But in ‘Doublespeak’, without getting too debated Ellis Christopher takes us to a different side of things. In the wake of a school shooting we are isolated in an ICU, emotions are high where a couple of mothers wait for their boys. A cathartic conversation begins to unravel secrets about their small town, their boys, and themselves.

In terms of what its for, I suppose I felt that there were facets to this modern American plague that weren’t entirely connected to just guns and violence. I tried to frame the narrative around that, figures of authority, and questions of empathy – that if someone’s endgame is truly a humane action, does it matter how they get there?

‘Doublespeak’ is strongly based on emotion, and Ellis learned to capture every single moment like it were the film’s final scene. The film has aesthetics despite its morbid environment where colors and shades are carefully used to depict the mood and tension. But ‘Doublespeak’s’ biggest threshold came from its actors with their splendid empathetic performance.

This all came about primarily from a desire to collaborate with this cast and crew, particularly Virginia Welch (actress) and Jose Brooks (producer/editor), whom I’ve known for some time now and interminably admire. After their feedback, I was fortunate enough to put together a script that attracted Adalgiza, Glen, Chris, and Ben, all of whom are true talents I was beyond fortunate to secure.

You also wonder how you can capture the mood of such a profound story, cinematography and acting play a tremendous role, but the film’s deep soundtrack also played a crucial part in setting the insidious mood.

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