Private Project

The Jetty

On a wind-swept, anachronistic jetty along Northern California’s rugged coast, a group of working strangers are bound together by the demands of the sea. As they endure long hours and harsh conditions, unexpected friendships take root. Through shared labor and quiet moments between the storms, The Jetty reveals how connection can transform isolation into community at the edge of the world.

  • Henk Conn
    Director
    The Lens That Breathes
  • Mohamed Mohsen
    Writer
  • Mohamed Mohsen
    Key Cast
    "Tomas"
  • MaShea Alderman
    Key Cast
    "Catherine"
  • Amadeus Garcia Brown
    Key Cast
    "Jack"
  • James Wright
    Key Cast
    "Sandro"
  • Andrew "AJ" Hempstead
    Key Cast
    "Smithy"
  • Jordan Dobbins
    Key Cast
    "Radio DJ"
  • Isabelle Knife
    Assistant Director
  • Oliver Segura
    Production Sound Manager
  • Jack Vance
    Camera
  • Haley Kenyon
    Production Runner
  • Henk Conn
    Editor
  • Henk Conn
    Score
  • Mohamed Mohsen
    Producer
  • Henk Conn
    Producer
  • Amadeus Garcia Brown
    Associate Producer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    27 minutes 32 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 17, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    50mm, Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Filmmaker Sessions Volume 4
    Iver
    United Kingdom
    April 6, 2026
    United Kingdom Premiere
    Official Selection
  • San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival
    San Francisco
    United States
    April 21, 2026
    Award Winner Best Script
  • Oakland Film Festival
    Oakland
    United States
    April 16, 2026
    Best Script Semi Finalist
Distribution Information
  • James Henry Conn
    Country: United States
Director Biography - Henk Conn

Henk Conn is a director, editor, and cinematographer. He focuses on man-on-the-street filmmaking and moral questions. His work includes documentary, narrative, and experimental film. He has produced stage plays and managed political campaigns. These experiences shape his interest in performance, power, and public life. His films value restraint, observation, and clear intent.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This film was shot on a deliberate, singular “canvas.” The Canon C100—my steady companion for years—was paired exclusively with its very first lens for me: the 50mm prime.

Tiffen colored filters—Red, Orange, Yellow, Green—were placed on the lens throughout principal photography. Their hues shaped light and contrast in real time, on set. Only later, in the edit, was the image stripped to monochrome, letting the captured tones carry the memory of color they once held.
More than any prior work, this piece is about light and sound. It drifts in a dreamlike, anachronic space—untethered from any specific date, folding eras together. Modern storytelling conventions are quietly unsettled; the narrative breathes unevenly, refuses tidy arcs.
The female protagonist enters the frame already whole. She requires no romantic completion from a man; her presence is sovereign, her actions decisive. She sees her place clearly and claims it. The male characters, by contrast, are the ones in pursuit—of status, of victory, of something to quiet the greed and insecurity that drive them. Their competition is the engine; her clarity is the counterweight.
All audio was recorded with a boom microphone alone. The entire shoot unfolded during a storm—wind tearing at clothing, thunder rolling low. Lavaliers would have captured every flap and rustle as noise; the boom preserved the raw, collective force of the weather itself, embedding it into the soundscape.
The Jetty is modern in its methods—constrained lens, on-set color filtration, unconventional character dynamics—yet framed to feel dated, almost historic.