Alex J. Knudsen
“Unlike all the other art forms, film is able to seize and render the passage of time, to stop it, almost to possess it in infinity. I’d say that film is the sculpting of time.”
-Andrei Tarkovsky
Gantry Productions started with a dream. Not a ‘childhood’ dream, mind you, but an actual dream. After waking up from a terrifying, apocalyptic nightmare, I immediately started to write what I originally thought would just be the details and images of this dream. This account began to turn into a little short story and eventually manifested into our inaugural short feature film, “End of the Road”. Realizing that I needed to shoot this on film, I immediately enlisted the help and talents of my co-worker, friend and cinematographer Saxon Moen.
Saxon was the only friend in LA I had that shared the same love and was equally as inspired by foreign film directors as I; Tarkovsky, Bresson, Melville, Kurosawa and Kieslowski. I knew he would share the vision I had for this story, which would be heavily influenced by these artists. We spent hours and days talking about what ‘kind’ of film we wanted to make, and more importantly what kind of films we wanted to make as artists for the entirety of our careers. We both shared a fascination and respect for complex characters, stillness, ambiguity and the beauty of simplicity. We decided upon a specific challenge to face ourselves with in making “End of the Road”; to shoot the film following the ‘Dogme 95 Manifesto’ created by the Danish filmmakers and artists Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von Trier. These principles of filmmaking focused on stripping down a production to the bare, honest truth of story and characters.
Among other rules set forth by this doctrine, only natural lighting would be allowed, only handheld camerawork and location shooting was a must. We felt that the story of “End of the Road” lent itself perfectly to these guidelines and conventions.
Next was to find the other actor who would play opposite of me in this intimate, dark, psychological film that was a study of paranoia and jealousy. I went to my old friend and college classmate Gary Poux. Gary starred in the first production I worked on at USC some eight years prior and blew me away with his intensity, commitment and command of the ‘world’ around him. The one thing Gary possessed that I needed above all else, was naturalism; a genuine truth that could not be questioned. He gave us this and much more.
Along with the bare bones crew of Saxon, Gary and a boom-mic operator, we set out to make our film over two weekends at Point Mugu beach, State Park and surrounding, uncharted territories. Seven years and numerous productions later; many inspired by dreams, I am very proud of “End of the Road”; what we set out to do and accomplished, and the beginning of Gantry Productions.
Alex Knudsen
Founder / Director
Gantry Productions