Lucas and Iris Save the World

Lucas and Iris are fourteen-year-old best friends grappling with the weight of adolescence in a fractured world. Lucas is plagued by nightmares of forest fires that spark his fear of coming environmental destruction. He enlists the more introverted Iris on a journey to confront environmental wrongdoers. What begins with small acts of sabotage in their Tennessee hometown escalates into a mission targeting a high-profile polluter in the northeast. Along the way, their path is shaped by the people they meet and the realities they face.

  • Keith Miller
    Director
    Five Star, Welcome to Pine Hill, Brooklynification
  • Keith Miller
    Writer
    Five Star, Welcome to Pine Hill, Brooklynification
  • Joyce Mishaan
    Producer
    Lee Fields: Faithful Man
  • Keith Miller
    Producer
  • Zaq Latino
    Key Cast
    "Quinn"
    Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill, morning routine, Reticence
  • Lucas Nichols Loller
    Key Cast
    "Lucas"
  • Iris Helm
    Key Cast
    "Iris"
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Comedy, Dramedy, Documentary-Hybrid, Narrative, Improvisatory
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 19 minutes 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 6, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    350,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, ARRI Alexa
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Keith Miller

Keith Miller is a director, writer, editor, and producer. His film Five Star premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won Best Editing for a Narrative Feature. It premiered internationally at the Venice Biennale and played festivals worldwide. His first feature film, Welcome to Pine Hill, was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance Film Festival 2012, the FIPRESCI Grand Jury Prize for New American Cinema at the Seattle International Film Festival, and several other awards.

He and Joey Carey are producers of F. Lily Henderson’s This Much We Know, distributed by Oscilloscope and which received grants from Cinereach and The Jerome Foundation and played at the 2022 Camden Film Festival and DOCNYC. He is the co-creator and director of the comedy series Brooklynification (2016-2018), looking at gentrification in Brooklyn and commissioned by BRIC TV. He is also a co-producer on Lee Fields: Faithful Man directed by Joyce Mishaan and Jessamyn Ansary.

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Director Statement

'Lucas and Iris Save the World' is my response to ongoing environmental catastrophe. I wanted to explore the power to change the world through the eyes of two 14-year-olds: Lucas, as he grows into his gender identity and learns what it means to be a true friend, and Iris, who is witty, wise, and discovering the strength of her voice.

As with my previous films, I worked with untrained actors who play versions of themselves in a story shaped by social and political contexts. The line between documentary and narrative is intentionally blurred: I write the structure and the elements of the scenes, some fully scripted, many observational and documentary in approach.

Each day began with a "check-in," where cast and crew gathered to share, listen, and connect with one another. This moment of non-transactional interaction created space for genuine relationships to form and for everyone to contribute meaningfully to the story we were telling. It’s in these connections—and the process itself—that I strive to reflect the world we hope to build.