Breathe Theresa

digital short film, 30min, 2020, Starring Elijah Burton, Genesis Mayorga, Adam Edwards, and Kenny Hamlett

Before Elijah sells his van "Theresa" for a home with his partner, friendship and memory are left vulnerable in the outdoors on a final surf trip to the Oregon coast.

 
 
 

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Breathe Theresa began out of a friendship I had with Elijah Burton, the co-writer and lead actor of the film. Elijah and I had been meeting for masked photo walks around Portland, OR during the peak of COVID-19 Lockdown and the Black Lives Matter movement. Our city was in turmoil and we wanted to create art that served as a kind of balm. We settled on docu-ficiton, a black road movie informed by influences such as Kelly Reichardt and Charles Burnett. Elijah shaped the story, pulling experiences he shared on surf trips with his co-stars Adam and Kenny, embodying the tensions and joys experienced by black men in the outdoors.

PRESs

  • Getting to Know the Creators of ‘Breathe Theresa’ on Watershed