Institute History
Description
Matt Sobel, in his first feature, creates a world wrought with secrets, misinterpretations, and subtext. Ryder, an artsy teenager, travels from California with his parents, Don and Cindy, for a family reunion in Nebraska. Upon their arrival, Ryder's impish nine-year-old cousin, Molly, leads him to a barn to show him a bird’s nest. What happens behind barn doors makes Ryder the sudden target of suspicion and unearths a long-buried family secret. Ryder and his parents are ill-equipped to handle the fallout; Cindy, in particular, does her best to remain positive. Ultimately, Ryder must come to terms with the truth on his own.
This unique family drama is told through the lenses of characters with questionable motives and mysterious behaviors. Like Ryder, the audience must reach its own conclusions about what is truth and what is fiction. In his moving portrait of an internally broken family, Sobel proves that sometimes the truth must remain undiscovered in order to survive.—R.K.