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In this absurdist drama, a captive man on a ranch discovers his fate and flees systematic violence from his captors.

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Bringing DOMESTIC to fruition was a watershed moment in my very very very young film career, and I couldn’t have done it without Shahrooz. 

Photography was my first love, which snowballed into DP’ing my friends' projects when I found out filmmaking was a thing some crazy people do.

And I’ve been crewing for a while now, sort of settled in G&E at the moment. But for anyone not familiar with film freelancing, there can be a lot of down time between jobs. I decided to start writing in that down time, it's a great creative outlet and one of the few hobbies you can do for pennies. Anyways, I never went to film school and I’ve been directing and shooting my own small projects with friends but I wanted to see if directing at a larger scale was something I was really game for, you know with a crew you have to lead.

...And I thought DOMESTIC was a script worthy enough to go to battle for. And it totally was a battle, as expected, but it was a great experience. 

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I actually found Shahrooz online, I was impressed with Higher Low Films and decided to shoot him a message.

We met, he liked the script, I liked him, it was straightforward which was a good sign. We basically spent the next few months together going through pre-production, raising money, casting, etc.

Shahrooz knew Joe Lopez, who played ‘Howard’, the older farmer in the story, who really made the story work.

He also brought on a bunch of crew, talented people and friends he trusted. I know this project was a logistical challenge for him too, we were shooting out of town and were bringing in crew from across the country. He handled it no problem, he sorted out carpooling, housing, catering (the best catering I’ve ever had on set I’ll add), etc. In the end, the shoot went very well, and it was a great group of people.

DOMESTIC was a great challenge for me personally, in realizing my creative voice and what I want to pursue.

We’re getting close to a picture lock and soon enough, we’ll be submitting to festivals. I feel very lucky to have met Shahrooz and worked with Higher Low Films. And I’m certainly eager to create more projects with the team in the future.

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Cheers!

Ben

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