Films

Synopsis

Through the process of challenging the old maxim “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” Sterling Hallard Bright Drake parses the line between truth and memory in solving the mysteries surrounding one of the world's most notorious and talked about tombstones. The result is a surprisingly funny and unexpectedly profound meditation on the seemingly inexhaustible optimism and promise of youth, the subsequent inescapable mortal realities of aging, and the bittersweet double-edged sword that comes part and parcel with true love.

Filmmaker’s Statement

On a warm summer night not long ago, I was riding my bike in Walla Walla, Washington’s Mountain View Cemetery when I took a turn down a path I’d never taken, and was struck by a strange backlit outline off in the distance. It was a giant black X, a shape I’d never seen in a cemetery before. As I got closer, I slowed down to get a better look at this X, which turned out to be the headstone of Sterling Hallard Bright Drake and Lady Gwinavier. I was stunned by its unusual imagery and riveted by Sterling’s epitaph, which reads, "An idealist and a dreamer, he died of loneliness and a broken heart, searching for a shrine he never found." I wondered what the story behind this magnificent tombstone could possibly be and I knew right then and there I was looking at my next movie.

Resources

Hi-Res Stills

SterlingHBDrake_PressKit.pdf

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