CAST

• Dylan R. Nix…Ethan Sawl

• Shane Williams…Quinn Thomas

• David E. McMahon…Oscar Alvaro

• Claire Huder…Molly

• Kristen Flynn Karlik…Kippen

• Abriann Tolentino…Ryan

• Ski Ignaszewski…Tony Alvaro

• Martigan Delano…Hitman

• Chloe Gylnn Walker…Eliza Brody

• Alex Rodriguez…Ruto Schrader

• Jason Walter…Officer Zahler

• Warren Ivy…Marcus Thomas

 

   LANGUAGE

     English

 

   Captions Available

     English

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   CINEMATOGRAPHY

     4:3, Digital, 24 fps

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   FILMING LOCATIONS

     FLORIDA: St. Augustine – Daytona Beach – Orlando –

     Debary – Miami – Florida Keys

     GEORGIA: Hinesville

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THE CREW

The film was written, produced and directed by Dylan R. Nix      who also starred in the film and acted as Director of Photography and edited the film. Chloe Gylnn Walker served as a co-star, as well as an assistant director and producer. Shane Williams too starred in the film and produced along with Nico Moschetto and David E. McMahon. Colton Pooler and Joe Y. Mora served as Associate Producers. Ms. Walker, Mr. Moschetto and Mr. Williams all served as camera operators in addition to their other roles. Karl Casey under his label White Bat Audio created several tracks that were licensed for use in the film and played a vital role in much of the film’s tone.

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Dylan R. Nix started his film production company Archico Productions in 2014 with his first short film Intervenus followed by Sickos: The Very First Ones and a feature film Baron Von Laugho’s Halloween Spook-A-Thon. From there he made several other short films and a feature length documentary about the making of the Halloween Spook-A-Thon which detailed the many complications and failures the troubled film had during its production.

      In 2019, he created a horror anthology series called Sharp Candy which included four 20-30 minute episodes which interconnected over the course of Halloween night, and brought back Nix’s clown character BARON VON LAUGHO from his Halloween Spookathon which is by far Archico Production’s most popular character. In 2020, he started publishing a book series based on the TV series and is currently up to seven books published as well as another book in a spin off series called "Try Some Fun-Size Pieces of Sharp Candy". The Sharp Candy TV show premiered at the 2019 Halloween International Film Festival in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina as a special invitation.

      The Things We Bloom is technically his third feature, but Nix considers it his first since the Halloween Spook-A-Thon is an anthology film and only 60 minutes long and the making of (although 80 minutes in length) is a documentary.

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Shane Williams and Nix have been good friends since high school and while Williams attended Florida State University and graduated with a Bachelors in Communications, Nix was working on short films and other projects. Occasionally the two would collaborate and Nix would always try to include him in the projects despite their distance. For The Things We Bloom, Williams became a vital part of the film as a producer and as the lead role opposite Nix. While not his first acting role, Williams has never considered himself an actor nor aspired to really be one. Nix asked him to play the role because their original actor dropped out and a lot was riding on getting scenes wrapped during a certain period of time. Nix since then has been grateful and believes the part was meant to be played by Williams. Funny enough the two friends first acted together in their first short film Intervenus which Williams also produced. In other regards, Williams is a talented and reliable production assistant and cameraman working in Atlanta for numerous productions and has many behind the scenes credits for such titles as ‘The Resident’.

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CHLOE GLYNN WALKER is originally from Colorado, and moved to Florida in 2015 to study Journalism and Media Production at Flagler College. While there she worked at the college radio station as a DJ and Music Director. Walker was first exposed to digital marketing during an internship with a recording studio where she distributed EPs and managed artist social media accounts. After graduating, Walker continued her broadcast career as an Associate Producer for News4JAX where she produced shows, published articles and, again, managed social media. She then made a career leap into the film industry where she found set design and props are her wheelhouse. She now devotes her time to her passion for creative film projects and her own media marketing company. In 2020, she directed her first short film, the award winning The Wax That Drips that was written by Nix and starred Claire Huder.

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NICO MOSCHETTO has been involved in a number of different projects ranging from film to radio to news. If it’s media-oriented he’s probably got experience in some fashion. As Digital Program Director at Flagler College Radio, he helped install a new automation program, the first of its kind at Flagler. From there he has had ongoing work in the media sales industry and has even worked as a production manager on select film sets such as the horror film 'The Last of the Grads'. He now devotes his time to all aspects of filming to networking. Both he and Walker started their own media marketing company in 2020 called Walker Moschetto Media.

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David E. McMahon is an award-winning actor who has acquired a long list of independent film credits to his name such as The Song of Solomon, Blind Cop 2, Bonehill Road, 10/31 Part 2, Teardrop Goodbye with Mandatory Directorial Commentary by Remy Von Trout, and Teacher Shortage as well as legions of other roles in feature and short films. He is a versatile actor and is able to move seamlessly from comedy to drama to horror. Having first worked with Nix on the series Sharp Candy, he was immediately contacted to play a role in The Things We Bloom. In doing so he and Nix collaborated greatly on McMahon's character and as a result OSCAR is a much different character than was originally written. Therefore Nix brought McMahon on as an associate producer.

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COLTON POOLER is a talented actor and comedian, and a good friend of Nix's having starred in his 2018 short film Rumorsa. Originally the role of QUINN was written with Pooler in mind, but due to his schedule he was unable to commit. He did however help produce the film as an associate producer.

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JOE Y. MORA grew up in Jacksonville, FL and was fascinated by the visual storytelling magic of animated features and video games. Mora moved out to Southern California to become heavily involved in musical theater and other performing arts for several years. After years on the stage, he flew out to study filmmaking in Sundance, Utah. In 2015, Mora returned to Florida and has since garnered several awards as a writer, director and producer for over one hundred roles has filled on independently produced short and feature films. In 2019, Mora assemedbled the multi-award winning team of industry veterans and resources and produced the psychological thriller Shine On. After the screening, Archico Productions reached out to partner with Mora to co-produce the short film The Wax That Drips. Afterwards Mora with his production company Arthouse Echo stayed on to help produced The Things We Bloom. 

 

ABOUT

The original treatment for what would become The Things We Bloom is not too different than the final film, however tonally and in execution the film is much different than was conceived during the early screenwriting process. Originally envisioned as a near wordless film entrenched in Grindhouse-type effects and cinematography and titled Blood Run Bloom, the film was written by Nix as he was going through difficult personal events which included a break-up.

            He turned to his creative outlets and drafted up a script, and about a year and a half later he returned to it and rewrote it several times and started discussing making the film with his crew. However his intentions, tonally, with the film had changed drastically. He no longer wanted it to be a super violent Grindhouse exploitation film, but instead a love letter to his home-state of Florida (and in a sense, a road trip type of film) and a meditation on depression and consequences. He also decided to film it in 4:3 aspect ratio as a way to frame the film from a nostalgic point of view. The condensed frame allowed (in his eyes) the creation of a sorrowful tone that one might have when thinking about past events. VHS style home movies appear in the film as well and Nix did not want the aspect ratio jumping back and forth nor did he want to expand the VHS footage. Lastly, the 4:3 was chosen because he was inspired by 90s postcards where pictures of Florida cities had their names centered in a plain white font, and in the film whenever a new location appears he wanted the title card to look like a postcard which was helped by a selected aspect ratio.

            The film was shot over the course of a year beginning in May 2020 and wrapped in May 2021, with editing being completed by July 2021. The filmmaking process was halted somewhat by the Covid-19 pandemic, but was able to continue safely due to the production’s minimal crew and precautions.

            The film is overall, a personal reflection of depression as well as a way creative way to include Florida as backdrop and a character in a moving story of loss and crime. Nix wanted to showcase a side of Florida other than the neon drenched or heavily saturated scenes films set in the state often depict. Starting in St. Augustine (Nix’s hometown) and traveling down to the Florida Keys, several real locations were included in the film that were personal to the crew.

            The completed film runs 80 minutes long and features several Floridian cities including St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Debary, Orlando, Miami and the Florida Keys. While the film is not rated it is suggested for audiences 18 years or older.

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