Director’s Note
A police siren shakes us into alert just like an anxiously barking dog. A wave crashes on the decadent shipyard’s shore, just as a horse races to the finish line. Distressed fences, a forced eviction, henchmen and lawyers, petty-theft and quick cash, blood smears, and an estranged father beside the drifting dust, permeate the world of this film; all before the adolescent eyes of defiant Iris. The parallel drawn across the absence of a father, and the lack of boundaries for young Iris thereof, is the primal drive of the story, just as it was for me at that age. Daringly crossing the threshold of physical and emotional boundaries, to merely understand the fragility that holds them together, Iris oscillates through chaos and order as a way of understanding where exactly she stands in this world. Since my early childhood, I couldn’t help but wonder how different my upbringing would be if I had my father around. This feeling of negligence, ambiguously led to my independent seeking self, an explosive temperament ceaselessly challenging the righteousness of authority. A deep-rooted curiosity to traverse things until the end with an innate desire to hold on tight to the reins. My exaggerated self-determination often led to adrenaline highs, full blown chaos, where I thrusted myself to the verge to merely feel something; anything. It was in my adolescent years that I began to know my father, and the acceptance of our bond, even if flawed, has made all the difference. Forever in the breath of my heroine, highlighting her visceral impulsiveness and delicate naiveté, I seek to portray her precarious journey from determination to defeat and finally acceptance; just as this delicate relationship with her father unveils.