Draft:Sam Now

Sam Now is a 2022 original documentary feature film directed by Reed Harkness, which documents his brother Sam Harkness’ life over twenty five years. The film is shot on a wide variety of camera formats; Super-8, VHS, Mini DV, Super16, HD, and Arri Alexa. Sam Now was the winner of the Documentary Competition at the 2022 Zürich Film Festival...

Synopsis
Filmed over an expanse of 25 years, two brothers go on a 2,000-mile road trip to solve a family mystery. Through a series of narratives framed around Sam’s wetsuit and mask wearing alter ego, the Blue Panther, the brothers take aim at solving the mystery of Sam's mother’s disappearance.

The documentary uses a hybrid narrative approach, drawing from a vast archive of fictional films, home videos, intimate family interviews and vérité scenes from over the decades. Sobering revelations blend with playful home movies and vibrant experimental filmmaking by brother and director Reed Harkness. The brothers take a spontaneous road trip in search of answers. We learn of Sam’s mother Jois’ complicated adoption history from Japan. We experience the ripple effects on the Harkness family including Sam’s brother Jared, father Randy and grandma Doris. And we are there with Sam coming of age from 11 to 36.

The film balances heavy themes and emotional reckonings with buoyant energy and lighthearted spirit. The optimistic teenage Sam we get to know, with his heart set on finding his mom, grows into a man whose new hope is to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma.

Production
Production began in 1998, when director Reed Harkness began making a series of short films with his younger 11-year-old brother Sam Harkness as subject. Production commenced in 2022 when Sam was 36. Sam Now was produced by Jason Reid and Reed Harkness along with co-producers Heather Hawksford and Adam Spiro Brown. Reed Harkness operates mainly a one person crew who applies an immersive style of in-the-scene cinematography similar to the autobiographical documentarian Ross McElwee.

Post Production
Sam Now was edited by Darren Lund and Jason Reid from January 2016 to September 2022. Jason and Darren were nominated for Best Editing at the 2022 IDA Documentary Awards. The film was funded by ITVS Open Call.

Music
The score for Sam Now was composed by Roger Neill, 20th Century Women, Beginners, Don’t Think Twice. The soundtrack features selections from the 1960’s pacific Northwest rock groups The Sonics and The Fabulous Wailers. The film also incorporates music from Dead Moon, Porcelain Raft, Kath Bloom, Smog, Styrofoam, Teengenerate, and an original song by Reed and Sam’s brother Jared Harkness and his band the Goodness Gracious.

Locations
The film, which Harkness began filming in Seattle in the late 1990's, spans over twenty five years in the making, and includes footage from Washington, Oregon and California.

Release
Sam Now was released on 1 May 2022 at the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto. The film's U.S. Premiere was May 25th, 2022 at Mountainfilm in Telluride, and the European premiere was at the Zurich Film Festival, where it won the Golden Eye Documentary Competition. The film will be released for a limited theatrical run in the spring of 2023, and will premiere nationally May 8th, 2023 through PBS' Independent Lens where the director and film subjects were interviewed in a panel

Reception
Sam Now has received critical acclaim, and has won nine film festival awards. The jury of the Zurich Film Festival stated of the film: "The film stood out to all of us as the finest cinema can do. Which is sending the viewer on a journey of introspection and questioning of human life and human relationships. In our crazy and collapsing world, being able to understand, accept and reach for the others is certainly crucial to remember." The film was spotlighted by the TCA January 16, 2023, following a writeup by Film Independent in earlier that month