Wake
An AFI Thesis Film
The Story
A young man seeks isolation in the woods after his mother's wake only to discover that, as he sleeps, he unconsciously pulls his sleepwalking community to him.
When Cooper escapes into the forest and attempts to live in solitude, members of his community and his past life sleepwalk out to him, relaying their dreams and memories to Cooper and presenting him with a level of vulnerability he feels incapable of reciprocating. As more and more people show up every night, Cooper is forced to confront his grief and the flaws in his own ideology and to consider the benefits of community, connection, and care, even under such eerie circumstances.
Wake is about the experience of a conscious desire for solitude pitted against an unconscious need for human connection.
Meet the Team
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Conner De Mita
Director / Screenwriter
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Seb Steinberger
Producer
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Ari Jacobson
Co-Screenwriter
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Nathan Podshadley
Cinematographer
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Spencer Shiffman
Editor
Director’s Statement
The concept for Wake was sparked by a conversation I had with my brother, Elliot Fletcher, about a shared experience we had growing up. We both felt that we should be alone - that there was some kind of value in isolating ourselves and being strong in solitude; resolute, and independent. But, at the same time, we both had an underlying need for connection and community which we often resisted, to our own detriment. We protected ourselves with a shield of isolation which we only later came to realize was actually an expression of narcissistic insecurity.
This shared experience wasn't something I'd seen in film before. Elliot and I developed the idea further: I knew he would play Cooper, the lead. I wanted to externalize the protagonist's internal conflict - something I strive to do in most of my filmmaking - by using the vulnerability of sleepwalkers as a way to confront the protagonist with his own crippling fear of vulnerability. In this way, Wake is both a deeply personal film for my brother and I, as well as a way for us, like Cooper, to confront our own fear of vulnerability and embrace the communities we're lucky to be a part of.