Private Project

Grief Stick

After 30 years, separated by time and circumstance, Portland poet Alex Behr reunites with her lost love Chris Hartman. Soon after reconnecting, Chris becomes ill with an accelerated, fatal disease. Grief Stick explores the contours of love and death, using photographs, poems, voicemails, and video to show the before/during/after of the illness and how it impacts them both.

  • Brian Padian
    Director
    The Black Sea, Microaggressions, Man of La Mansion
  • Alex Behr
    Producer
    n/a
  • Brian Padian
    Editor
  • Brian Padian
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    illness, poetry
  • Runtime:
    17 minutes 45 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 2, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Oregon Documentary Film Festival
    Portland
    United States
    January 20, 2025
    World Premiere
    Nominee: best film
  • TOMORROW THEATER
    Portland
    United States
    February 20, 2025
  • Up Up Books
    Portland
    United States
    November 7, 2025
Distribution Information
  • n/a
Director Biography - Brian Padian

Brian Padian is a filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon. Resisting convention and easy categorization, his produced projects span narrative, documentary, and experimental and include feature films (THE BLACK SEA), shorts (APOLOGY GHOST, THE BIG BLACK DARK), webseries (MICROAGGRESSIONS, MAN OF LA MANSION), and music videos. Brian recently directed and edited the short documentary GRIEF STICK and is in post-production on his second narrative feature SISTER/BROTHER. Brian's films have screened at Dances With Films, Local Sightings, McMinnville Short Film Fest, Experimental Fiction Film Festival, NYC Webfest, Vastlab Experimental, Defy Film Festival, Oregon Documentary Film Festival, Hoffman Center for the Arts, Portland State University, UP UP Books, and others. A brain tumor survivor, Brian's films are sometimes imbued with a sense of foreboding or absurdity and typically explore the symbiotic relationship of light and darkness, impermanence and death. A project grant recipient from the Regional Arts + Culture Council and recognized as a Final Draft Fellow at Stowe Story Labs, Brian holds an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute where he received the Jack Oakie Memorial Scholarship. He also holds an undergraduate degree in Film & Theater Arts from Humboldt State University, where his ethos and love of tall coastal trees was forged.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

When I heard Portland writer Alex Behr was looking for an editor for the film project she was producing about the illness that destroyed her partner Chris, I immediately offered to help. I didn't know Chris at all and Alex only socially, but the themes of sickness, body betrayal, and the sudden perspective shift due to catastrophic transformative news resonated with me - I am a brain tumor survivor, and once you get the rug pulled out from under you, you forever manage living in that space. I knew I could tune to the right frequency and not be daunted, but working on this film was still challenging for me and many days I had to give myself strict time-limits lest I be overwhelmed by the content. Alex provided me with a ton of material - video she shot, video Chris shot, voicemails, recorded poems, endless photos - so the challenge here was finding an engaging manner to shape it in a way that was true to the experience and to the poetry of the experience at once. Over the course of the project I came to know Alex better and Chris posthumously. Grief Stick was a very stirring project for me and I hope it will be for you as well.