Forest

This project was uploaded around mid December 2023 as unlisted, but only recently in early September of 2024 it's become available to the public.

Credits:
Henry G. as Forest
Minah K. as friend
Lia N. as office secretary
Directed/ Written/ Produced/ Edited/ Shot/ Story Boarded By: Henry G. and Mateo C.

Music:
Aisatsana - Aphex Twin
Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major -Bach
Toreador Song - Bizet
Parting - Yoshimasa Terui

Tagline:
Stand tall, never forget your roots.

Synopsis:
A man sees a tree he has never seen before. During his week, he sees this same tree everywhere he goes. While falling asleep driving, he encounters the tree face-to-face. He realizes the tree was him in a past life, and he accepts the tree not as an enemy but a friend. The man dies while crashing into the tree, but his grave sprouts a new sapling.

Director's Statement:
Henry and Mateo directed this film as a school project for our film theory class. Our gag idea was to have a horror story of a man named Forest seeing the same tree everywhere he went. During the planning for the film we were binging a show called adventure time where one of the key themes in the show is past lives personified in inanimate objects. We thought that concept was very interesting so we built a narrative around it, relating the Tree as Forest's past life. When Forest was young, he had joy in his life but now that he's become older, he's lost his roots. The main message we wanted to transmit to the audience was to enjoy life as it could be taken from you at any time. People reminisce about the "good times", but we want to recognize that the little moments we take for granted now become those times we always remember. Don't lose yourself in the monotony of life.