WHY THIS FILM NOW?

 

FERMATA is rooted in the experiences I had when I lost a dear friend and classmate to suicide in graduate school. The grief was acute in the moment, and in many ways, brought my class closer together. But over time, that same grief lingered and erupted in surprising ways, fracturing our cohort with greater and greater force. In FERMATA, I sought to capture the gnarled aftershocks of loss – the ways in which our heaviest baggage can both draw us together and force us apart. It’s a portrait of grief, loneliness, and ultimately, resilience.

 

While there is great personal specificity to the film, our hope is that the story will serve as a broader call to perseverance in a culture that can increasingly be mired in despair. Whether turning on the news or scrolling social media, it’s easy to get bogged down by anxiety, fear, and loneliness. Studies show that Millenials and Gen Z in particular have the highest rates of anxiety and depression, linked often to the internet, social media, and contemporary life. 

 

We believe FERMATA can serve as an allegory for the routine despair our generation is faced with every day. It’s a film that will call us to persist amid sorrow and struggle, and to seek connection even when the world around us feels bleak. Through Artie and Evie’s determination to connect, we hope audiences will leave emboldenedwith the courage to take a small step forward and liberated to seek out the good even amidst a lot of bad.