Dodgson (2019)

This film explores the paradoxical influence that trauma has on human behavior, as well as the remedial potentials of therapy, self-acceptance, and forgiveness.

Born and raised outside Boston, Massachusetts as the adopted son of two clinical psychologists, I draw a great deal of creative inspiration from the traumatic upbringing of my father and the painful genesis behind his desire to pursue a career in psychology. For all of his own imperfections, my father has always believed in the curative powers of therapy. The two of us are similar in this respect...

I spent most my childhood and adolescent years unaware of the psychoanalytical approaches to parenting that my mother and father implemented while raising me. Growing up I was a shy boy, always trying my best to avoid situations that involved public speaking, often stammering out of anxiety whenever forced into doing so. To this day, I tend to quiver at the prospect of having to stand up in front of others and verbally present myself. Having said this, as I continued to develop my story, the more I wished to create a narrative that explored the harsh realities faced by those afflicted by mental illnesses and speech disorders. After months of R&D, countless internet searches, daily calls to my parents and weekly sit-ins with group speech-therapy sessions, I finally came to realize just how intrinsically human it all was. How fundamentally universal certain things like stress, trauma, depression and anxiety are.

The film's protagonist, Isaac Dodge, is a complex character who exhibits an array of universally resonant sensibilities (e.g., harboring pains of unresolved traumas, possessing an innate desire to help others incapable of doing so, even at the neglect of his own well-being, etc.)

Collectively speaking, I view those who suffer from speech-fluency disorders as some of the most remarkably brave and beautiful people on the planet. The months of arduous research I spent developing the film's characters have taught me many things. I’ve learned how often people misunderstand each other because they are too impatient to offer their opinion and have not listened attentively enough to others. To consider deeply someone else's worldview without inserting your own. It has shown me just how much humans seek to be understood and just how often language is insufficient to make people understand... It's not how you say things, but what you say, that matters.

I think that life is about choices. I believe at any given moment in our lives we are three bad decisions away from a shit storm. I think that when we are in a shit storm, we are three good choices away from getting out of it. I think it's really hard to see that out sometimes. I think there are people who see both at the same time and they are well-balanced, grateful people. I think to be grateful you have to be aware of the fact that it could all go away tomorrow.

In the end, we all have something to draw from...