In his directorial debut, Jared Douglas tries to ease the mental health stigma.
The Sound of The Wind marks the directorial debut of Jared Douglas, a 25 year old graduate of NYU, who majored in Film & Television and minored in The Business of Entertainment.
While his academic background laid the groundwork for plans to be a filmmaker, it was his internship on Sicario and Demolition that provided the valuable insight of being on set almost every day and observing how films were made.
He “learned from people who had done it” and acknowledged the importance of apprenticeship over book learning.
The Sound of the Wind is the story of a troubled young man on the run with a bag of money.
He’s convinced he’s being followed, although it’s unclear whether the pursuit is real or merely the product of his mental state of fear and paranoia.
Christian Gnecco Quintero plays Lucio, the man on the run, who is the centerpiece of the movie.
It’s a demanding role that reflects the close collaboration between the young director and star whose friendship and working relationship began when they were in college. "The second we met we sort of just connected," said Douglas.
Their chemistry is on the screen in a movie that is largely a one-character drama.
It’s a dark tale, thematically and visually following Lucio on his journey that ventures deeper and deeper into the depths of his troubled mind.
At its heart, it’s a story about mental illness that “puts the viewer squarely into the shoes of someone who is suffering and on the run,” Douglas told me in an interview.
The script, written by Douglas, is an exploration of depression, fear and paranoia and an attempt to shed light on the fact that "we treat physical illness far differently than we treat mental illness."
The Sound of the Wind addresses the stigma attached to mental illness, something Douglas says he witnessed first hand growing up.
Douglas’s goal in making the film was “to contribute to the conversation about mental issues and how we deal with them as a society.”
The Sound of the Wind is an ambitious debut film that takes us on a dark journey that only independent films are sometimes able to do.
In those cases they are soul-baring stories that are unsparingly, intensely personal.
The Sound of the Wind will be released on virtual cinema beginning April 24.
General home entertainment release begins the following week to honor Mental Health Awareness Month.eThas participating locations beginning March 24, before a general home entertainment eleaseollowing
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