Films are made of and from places: the locations they are filmed in, the settings they are meant to evoke, the geographies where they are imagined and worked on. What place tells its own story about your film, whether a particularly challenging location that required production ingenuity or a map reference that inspired you personally, politically or creatively? 

I have spent the last decade shooting all over Los Angeles, and wanted to use my first film as an opportunity to show different sides of the city—ones that don’t always get the spotlight in movies. In particular, we had a very important location that is a section of the LA River which is often overlooked—where the bare rock and concrete meets this lush green overgrowth. Earlier in the film, a character describes this location, and then much later we finally get to see it on screen. There is something satisfying about this payoff, like an itch being scratched. I think it’s a very human experience, to hear about a place and then see for yourself how it lives up… I’m excited for people to see this location in our movie.

See all responses to our annual Sundance Question here.