The Past Is Patient
A 35 mm short film about grief, memory, and the generational trauma that shapes who we become
Concept Teaser
Enjoy our concept teaser based on The Past is Patient Screenplay. To learn more about this shoot and view some BTS (Behind the Scenes), head over to The Blog
Years after the death of his sister Jo, Rick stumbles upon an old Zippo lighter, and is suddenly pulled into a quiet reckoning with her memory; confronting the guilt he’s carried and the healing he never believed he deserved.
What follows is a quiet confrontation between past and present. As Jo reappears, more memory than ghost, she draws Rick into the emotional wreckage they both tried to escape. Between her presence and their mother Edith's continued decline inside their old trailer home, Rick is forced to reckon with the generational damage that shaped them: addiction, abandonment and the weight of unprocessed grief.
Told through non-linear, emotionally layered flashbacks into their childhood, The Past Is Patient explores how trauma mutates over time and how healing doesn’t always arrive as redemption, but as release. The Past Is Patient asks a simple but devastating question: What do we do with the pain we inherit?
Starring: Chris Jaymes, Mele Black, Ollie Walters, Laurie Burke and Matilda Black.
The Story
The Why
In 2009, I lost a friend to suicide. I experienced complex grief but I didn’t know how to name it, let alone process it. More than a decade later, I started to see a pattern: the way we grieve is shaped by what we inherit. Generational trauma doesn’t just live in the big, visible moments, it’s in how we cope. How we hide. How we keep moving even when something inside us has stopped.
This film isn’t about assigning blame. I don’t know what caused my friend’s death. But I do know the patterns I followed in its aftermath: the silence, the discomfort around emotion, the numbing and the need to seem okay even when I wasn’t. I saw those same patterns reflected back in the people around me (friends, siblings, families) trying to hold their own inherited pain.
That’s what The Past Is Patient is about. Not answers, but presence. Not solutions, but witnessing. Not dramatic resolutions, but the quiet recognition that healing begins with staying long enough to acknowledge that the pain exists. It's a place to start.
We know this story can’t fix what’s broken. Suicide and trauma can’t be resolved in a single conversation or a fifteen-minute film. But what we can do is hold space. With care. With intention. With truth. We’ve followed the AFSP’s safe reporting guidelines for fictional narratives, which you can read Here. Our hope is that this film becomes a door. Not to closure, but to conversation.
The Ask
We’ve filmed a teaser based on our screenplay, and now it’s time to make the full film. That’s where you come in. We know these are challenging times, and asking for financial support is bold. But we believe deeply in the impact of this story. The Past Is Patient is inspired by true events. It explores loss, generational trauma, and the unspoken ways we’re taught to carry grief. It also touches on complex, often-silenced experiences, including suicide and addiction. This isn’t my first attempt to tell this story.
Last year, I tried to make a version of this film on my own. I poured in everything I had (including my life savings). But I didn’t have the right collaborators, or the freedom to tell the story the way it needed to be told. The result lacked clarity, heart, and alignment. So I made the hardest (and most honest) choice: I walked away. And then I started over.
Inspired by the story, Filmmaker David Dodson didn't want to see my efforts go to waste. He believed in the message, but more importantly, he believed in me. He made an offer that I never expected: "I would like to help y ou make this film". And here we are.As our director, editor (and co-writer) David helped me have a second chance at telling a story that lived inside of me for years. We rebuilt from the ground up. New cast, new crew, and a seasoned director and cinematographer who fully understand the emotional and visual language this story demands. The actors are deeply aligned with the material. And this time, I had full creative freedom to write the script I originally envisioned, without compromise. And with David's help as co-writer, it is beautifully told.
What Now?
Now, we're planning a focused five-day shoot in Santa Clarita, with a cast of six working under a SAG UPA agreement. We’ll be shooting on 35mm film, with gear generously sponsored by Panavision. We know it's ambitious. But stories like this deserve to be told with care and craft.
If this story resonates with you, we invite you to make a donation in any amount using the buttons above or below. You can learn more about your donation options and how contributions are used in the “About Donating” section—and meet the people bringing this film to life under “The Team” and “The Cast.”
Thank you for helping us carry this story into the world.
Safely Telling The Story
This film is centred around suicide, suicide loss survivors, generational trauma, grief and addiction. We have made sure to take special care in addressing this delicate subject matter. We have followed the AFSP's safe reporting guidelines for fictional narratives, which you can read HERE.
We are also working with mental health professionals and reaching out to organizations to screen the material during pre and post production. If you are a mental health professional or organization and wish to be involved or to simply read our script, please fill out a Contact Form.
We also have a page dedicated to resources to support you: If You're Struggling
Statisticts
Childhood trauma affects your ability to trust people. You don’t learn how to feel safe with others. So when you lose someone and you’re deep in grief, it’s hard to reach out. Grief needs connection but trauma makes connection feel dangerous.
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"Trauma experienced in childhood has significant implications for healthy child development and psychopathology in adulthood" (NIH)
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"Trauma (including childhood trauma) experienced by parents can negatively affect their parenting ability while also increasing the risk of transmitting trauma to their children" (NIH)
Childhood physical and emotional abuse indirectly predicted suicidal ideation through their association with anxiety. Childhood neglect indirectly predicted suicidal ideation through its association with perceived social support." (NIH)
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Suicide ranks among the leading causes of death in the United States (CDC)
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For every 1 suicide, 135 people are affected including familt, friends and colleagues (CDC)
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Families who lose a loved one to suicide are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, and PTSD (AFSP)
The Team
We are a small but passionate team of filmmakers who believe in the power of honest storytelling. With backgrounds spanning directing, cinematography, writing, music, and producing, we are collaborators drawn together by a shared commitment to emotionally resonant, character-driven work. This film is a labor of love made by artists who lead with heart, craft with care, and trust each other to tell stories that matter.
The Cast
We’ve brought together a group of deeply talented actors who are not only skilled performers but passionate storytellers. With collective experience spanning film, television, theater, and devised performance, this ensemble brings a rare blend of range, truth, and emotional intelligence to the work. More than just credits on a résumé, these artists care about the heart of the story. Together, they’re poised to breathe life into this film with honesty, complexity, and connection.
The Blog
Here you will find posts and updates from our team and cast.
