Walter

“Walter” is a warm, humorous, and slightly offbeat short about a father and son rebuilding connection in the wake of divorce— with imagination becoming both a refuge and a bridge back to one another.

This film began as a reflection on how imagination helps us navigate change. I approached the story both as a child of divorce and as a parent, aiming to capture the way creativity can be a lifeline in dealing with loss. When my own family faced a difficult period, it occurred to me that clinging to the past can be as futile as trying to hold onto a wave.

“Walter” also became a metaphor for the emotional ecology of family—how one person’s feelings and actions inevitably affect the others, often without intention. Every word, every silence, sends ripples that travel further than we realize. The film explores what happens when those ripples collide—when love, loss, and misunderstanding meet in the same tide—and how empathy can restore balance.

I filmed “Walter” with my two children (and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo by my husband) in our own neighborhood shortly after we’d moved to a new city. The process became a way for us to reconnect and feel rooted in a new place—an act of collaborative creation that celebrated a new beginning while gently letting go of what we’d left behind.

“Walter” reminds us that love, like a wave, never truly disappears—it just returns in a new form.