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synopsis A man in his golden years heads to a secluded mountain house seeking an enlightening experience. director John Ashe Say is an actor/writer/director based out of Astoria, New York. He has performed throughout New York City and in regional theaters across the country and has been writing, directing and editing his own films since 2015. John was born and raised in Concord, North Carolina and received a B.F.A. from Elon University. Filmography filmmaker's note After watching and learning from many of the foreign film masters I became liberated by the idea that outside of truthfully communicating one's 'story' or 'concept', there are no rules in filmmaking. This obsession grew to the development of Sanitas Pacifica. Working on a tale with an essence living in the internal truth of the lead character and a dreamlike setting and atmosphere, as opposed to a circumstantial or time driven outcome, I was immediately freed from a linear dialogue driven structure. I wanted to use elements of lengthy shots, ambient sound design/score and abnormal color evolution to achieve the overall experience, and though challenging in many ways, I believe we accomplished just that. I was also very inspired to utilize a framing device of ‘moving visual art’ to act as an emotional Rorschach test, infusing the experience with something more, mirroring and enriching the journey of the character. I believe when pulled off, the potential for abstract emotional takeaways is nearly limitless, opening the door to further personal interpretation of the entire film. However, perhaps the most powerful tool in the telling was the use of silence. I’ve always been most affected as an audience member by the silent moments in film, when one’s allowed to feel everything the characters feel in their own way, our mirror neurons firing on all cylinders, the writer in our mind calling the shots. I couldn’t be more satisfied with the last twenty minutes of the film: no dialogue, just an honest attempt at poetic, slow moving cinematography combined with ethereal sound composition and very honest and present acting. This achieved, what I believe, is the most powerful piece of the story, bringing home the macro approach of atmospheric storytelling over dialogue driven narrative. It was always my goal to make a film that, like the most effective poetry and visual art, could be so intimate, so painfully personal, that each audience member would take the journey with Adam, eventually arriving with him at their own moment of existential revelation. Sanitas Pacifica is a film about the beautiful tragedy of life and every audience members’ personal relative experience, proving my super-objective as a storyteller—that each of us is Adam. related links
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