A caring man puts his own life on hold to help his friends in Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s drama, Our Friend.
Cowperthwaite’s film tells the inspiring true story of Matt and Nicole Teague and their two young daughters, whose lives are upended after Nicole is diagnosed with terminal cancer. As Matt's duties become increasingly overwhelming, the couple's best friend Dane Faucheux makes a huge sacrifice to stay with his friends and lend a hand.
On February 27, Cowperthwaite discussed the making of Our Friend in a DGA Virtual Q&A moderated by Director Maryam Keshavarz (Viper Club).
During the conversation, Cowperthwaite spoke about finding the balance between close-ups and aerial shots in the opening of the film.
“I wanted to open in a very specific way, where you're with three kids in the beginning, on a beach, and the metaphor is: there's micro-organisms that are coming from the earth, and they've got nets and they're pulling up stuff. The idea that you start so little, and then you grow, and you get bigger, and [gain] more insight, until we're gone. To me it was a very specific opening that I had always wanted to do.”
Cowperthwaite’s other directorial credits include the feature film Megan Leavey and the documentary City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story. She also won the Sundance Grand Jury prize for her 2013 documentary Blackfish.
Cowperthwaite has been a DGA member since 2011.
You can listen to Cowperthwaite's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.
About the DGA Virtual Q&A Program
Mirroring the ever-popular DGA Membership Screening Q&A program in the virtual space, DGA Members can now learn more about films directly from the filmmakers in this series of livestreamed conversations.