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Forward/Backward

FORWARD/BACKWARD
(USA, 2009) Director: Kendall Lynch and Elizabeth Spear
Drama, English, 97 minutes
U.S. Premiere

SYNOPSIS
Clayton goes to brain injury camp every summer, but this year, he has to come home early because his family is dropping like flies - one funeral after another. For Clayton, being home just means everybody wants to know how he's gonna to take care of himself. But you can't be mad at him. Can he help it if his brain don't work like yours? And anyway, just because you think you can do better than somebody else don't mean you can. Just because you move out of this old town don't mean you won't be back one day. What are you running from? What are you stuck here for? What makes you feel better; friends, family, meth, driving, crashing, drinking, talking, dreaming, your sweet old dog, Buddy? New York might as well be the moon. What about what happens here and now? Every day's a new day for Clayton, boy.

FROM THE DIRECTOR
"In January of 2003, my cousin Clayton moved in with my fiancé and me. At the time, Clayton was recently orphaned, and although he was 22-years old, his mentality was more that of a 16-year-old. Smart, funny, sarcastic, great poet, fun to hang out with on one hand; naïve, poor judgement, bad temper and virtually no short-term memory on the other.

Clayton, I soon discovered, doesn't quite fit neatly as a pet project. In between episodes of blowing all his social security money, keeping our college neighborhood outfitted in beer and other things, coming in at 4am singing at the top of his lungs and letting our dog out repeatedly, Clayton and I had some good cousin-bonding time. I was a young filmmaker, and Clayton had one heck-of-a-story.

Kendall Lynch came into the picture in 2005, and together we decided that Clayton would play himself. And after a screen test, we decided Josh, Clayton's real life best friend, should also play himself. We filmed and edited for 3 years, mostly on weekends, scrounging together cast, food, gas money, stray dogs--using found people and objects to shape a story that is so unbelievably tragic that it emerges as comedy."

REVIEWS
"The film really drew you into a different culture." - Jeff Orgill, Judge, Strasbourg Film Festival
"It was my favorite film there!" - Melissa Sander, Judge, Strausbourg Film Festival

FESTIVALS, SCREENINGS & AWARDS
Festivals/Screenings: International Film Festival, Ireland
Awards: Winner - Best Culturally Inclined, Strasbourg International Film Festival

THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Director: Kendall Lynch and Elizabeth Spear

WEBSITE
http://forwardbackward.com/