When I became a father, my fear of never making a movie again gave way to something deeper—my insatiable drive to witness life through my lens. Right before our first trip to Panama as a new family, I outlined a short film I imagined I could shoot while caring for my infant daughter, set at my Grandparents' house in the Panamanian highlands. On that trip - between changing diapers and singing out-of-tune lullabies - I shot 40 hours of footage. Just like that, the short film I envisioned was on its way to becoming my first feature-length film.

I spent the next 4 years carefully filming pick-up sequences, allowing my imagination the luxury of time to arrive at the film's premise through lived experience, rather than through "what must happen."  What resulted is an organic expression of myself as a bicultural Latino trying to pass on what was given to him, without also passing on the pang of hardship and trauma that reverberates throughout most Latin American family histories.

I was raised by my Grandparents. I lived with them in the states until I was eight. When they retired back to Panama, I spent my summers with them, joyfully soaking up their stories and the stories of my ancestors. I gradually realized that mixed with the beautiful stories was a lot of antiquated “wisdom” about how to exist in the world. My Grandfather's worldview - and the house he had initially built as a refuge - was actually caving in on itself.

When I brought my wife and kid to meet him, I struggled to accept the truth as they saw it: that the Grandfather I had always loved, cared more about his own legacy than having a relationship with his Grandson. In the film, the disintegration of that relationship surfaces in real time. Maintaining a connection with this broken man and my desire to perform well as a new father come into direct conflict. As it turned out, I couldn’t do both.

It was a surprise to me that the first film I'd get to make in the land of my ancestors would be this one; something raw and unconventional. But it is the most real film it could be; the one I needed to make.

If I had to say who this film is for, I'd say that it's for anyone who has ever loved someone who is nearly impossible to love, and yet, to have a life apart from them would be the cruelest tragedy imaginable.