Private Project

The Country They Call Life

A spirit trapped in a forest must choose between life and death, with only the help of a suicidal man.

  • H. R. Kean
    Director
    Best Friend Zone, Impossibilities, Piano Lessons
  • Cara Mitsuko
    Key Cast
    "Autumn"
    Man in the High Castle, Better Call Saul, Westworld, You
  • Jeremy Roberts
    Key Cast
    "Daniel"
    Babylon, Chance
  • H.R. Kean
    Writer
  • H.R. Kean
    Producer
    Piano Lessons, Best Friend Zone, Disobedience
  • Cara Mitsuko
    Producer
    Look Up, Best Friend Zone, Age Appropriate
  • Allie Rivera-Quiñonez
    Producer
    Gigi & Nate, Spare Room
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Supernatural, Drama, Adventure
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 35 minutes
  • Production Budget:
    19,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - H. R. Kean

H.R. Kean grew up in central California, and went to school at UCSB studying Dramatic Arts and graduating with Honors. She studied at the Stuart Rogers Studio in Los Angeles and co-founded the film collective TheFilmKind in 2014. Her work has played in film festivals, won an Audience Choice Award and has been bought by colleges across the United States.

Watching her parents conduct choirs and direct operas, she was always in and around the theater. She started performing at age 3 and began to pursue directing full-time at 28.

Now at 34 she is directing her first feature film "The Country They Call Life" starring Man in The High Castle's Cara Mitsuko and Jeremy Roberts.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This film, in its simplest form, is a promise I kept to myself. A promise to never forget. Not what it felt like to be sick, but what it felt like to be better.

The story was conceived more than 10 years ago. When I was just getting better from a chronic illness that appeared two weeks after I moved to Los Angeles. In the midst of lost hair and bed-ridden years…I had an image of a girl in a forest and I wondered what she was doing there. It started as a romance, but then one day I realized the story doesn’t end with the guy and the girl getting together. It ends with the girl getting her life back.
Because that’s where mine started again. And that journey is worth remembering, for me.

As soon as I finished post-production on this film, I suddenly realized it was worth all the hard work and crazy hours spent- just to keep a promise to myself. A promise I had forgotten I’d even made all those years ago when I finally began to feel better. A promise to remember how to feel well again. How to find “The Country They Call Life” again and how to keep finding it every day after!