UNDER THE TREES
Co-Writer l Co-Director l Producer
Starring:
Ethan Fritsch-Morrison, Ellessandra Hills,
Erica Neilson, Ben Weir
Runtime: 14 Minutes 53 Seconds
Release Date:
Coming Soon
IMDB
In the unfolding story of 'Under The Trees', two siblings, Myla (Ellessandra Hills) and Lucian (Ethan Fritsch-Morrison), escape from their troubled home and into the wild, quickly immersed in the challenges of the Australian bush.
What began as a liberating escape turns into a practical test of survival in the wilderness. Stripped of everything but their bond, the siblings embark on a journey where the vast landscape becomes both a friend and a foe. With only their connection to rely on, Myla and Lucian grapple with the question of whether their unbreakable bond can withstand the trials of the wild...
WRITER / DIRECTOR STATEMENT
Under The Trees began with a simple question: how do we live with the consequences of our choices?
The film moves between two opposing worlds: the house and the bush. One offers comfort and routine, the other freedom and uncertainty. Both demand something from the people who choose them. For Lucian and Myla, young adult siblings standing on the edge of adulthood, these spaces become emotional mirrors. Their bond anchors the story and softens the extremes around them. Each chooses a different path, and the cost of that separation becomes the film’s quiet tragedy.
As we move through our twenties, we have felt how contradictory choice can be. The freedom to choose can also create uncertainty, and each path carries its own quiet cost. Making this film allowed us to sit with that complexity rather than turn away from it. What began as part of a broader imagined world, originally involving a fictional cult, was distilled into something more intimate. We stripped away the larger mythology to focus on the emotional truth: the warm certainty of a decision, the doubt that follows, and the quiet ache of accepting what we cannot change.
We made the film instinctively. With no formal training, we wrote, directed, acted, and produced it ourselves, supported by a small team and the rugged landscape of Upper Colo. Its isolation shaped not only the film’s tone but also our experience of making it. Removed from the world, we lived inside the story we were trying to tell.Under The Trees is ultimately about the choices that define us and the distance they create. Our hope is that it finds a quiet place in its audience and invites them to sit with whatever longing, nostalgia, or regret lives there.
