logline
We Go Way Back is a funny, tender character study about a young actress named Kate whose refusal to admit to her romantic and professional dissatisfaction leads her to a surreal confrontation with her own past.

description
A hard-working young actress with a small theater company, Kate lands her first leading role on her 23rd birthday. When she reads a cheerfully inquisitive birthday letter from her 13-year-old self, it seems she might actually be fulfilling childhood aspirations.  But the letter triggers mounting confusion for Kate, and her former self – in the form of a voice and the occasional fleeting vision – won't seem to go away.  As Kate bends to the whims of those around her with dwindling resistance, the protests of her adolescent self grow more hauntingly intrusive until, in a surrealistic turn, 13-year-old Katie appears in the flesh, primed for a confrontation.

Beautifully shot and poetically edited, this resonant film explores the comedy and pain of finding the courage to face up to yourself.

director’s statement
I once heard a writer refer to the 20’s as a woman’s “geisha years”. Feeling a little lost, she seeks direction from those around her and expends enormous amounts of energy fulfilling the needs of everyone but herself—particularly men. I certainly went through this phase in my own life and what breaks my heart about it is that it was not a lack self-direction and self-respect but rather a loss. At thirteen, I possessed a clarity of vision and a degree of self-confidence that I marvel at today. Somehow, the experience of adolescence stole it all away and it took me years—decades, really—to get it back again.

In We Go Way Back, I’ve given my lead character a gift I could have used during my own “geisha years”: the opportunity to meet the person with all the ingredients that I so sorely missed; my former self.

biography of the director
We Go Way Back is the debut feature from filmmaker Lynn Shelton. Shelton spent a dozen years acting and writing for the stage before going to graduate school in Photography and Related Media at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. There, she became an experimental filmmaker, studying with such luminaries as Ed Bowes and Peggy Ahwesh. Since then, her films have been screened at dozens of festivals and venues. Juror Todd Haynes called her award-winning experimental documentary, The Clouds That Touch Us Out Of Clear Skies, “powerfully absorbing”and Ira Glass (of “This American Life”) said that the film “takes a subject that’s inherently upsetting and makes it compelling”. She was invited to be a Fly Filmmaker at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2003 and was named “One To Watch” in the film category of The Stranger’s 2004 Genius Awards. In the role of film editor, Shelton has collaborated on a host of projects, including Paul Willis’ experimental feature Hedda Gabler and Alec Carlin’s award-winning feature Outpatient as well as on numerous shorts, including Hello starring Eric Stoltzand 8 Minutes To Love starring Sandra Oh.

selected filmography of the director
THE FRUITS OF OUR LABORS, experimental documentary, 2005
SUMMER, experimental, 2004
SEATTLE: EDUCATION Giving Kids Room to Grow, documentary, 2003
OUR ROUND EARTH, experimental, 2001
THE CLOUDS THAT TOUCH US OUT OF CLEAR SKIES, experimental documentary, 2000
BEAUTIFUL OHIO, experimental, 2000
PSYCHEDELIC NURSING MAMA, experimental, 1999
SECRETS OF THE FLESH, experimental, 1996
IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, experimental, 1996
FORGETTING THAT WE ARE WATER, experimental, 1995
THE DOWN OF HER, experimental documentary, 1995
WHITE, experimental, 1994

short bios of key crew members

writer/director/editor
Lynn Shelton spent a decade acting and writing for the stage before going to graduate school in Photography and Related Media at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her experimental films and documentaries have screened at dozens of festivals and venues. We Go Way Back is her debut feature.

producers
Gregg Lachow created The Film Company, a non-profit film studio. His own films include the Emmy-nominated short To Have and To Hold for PBS, and the features Money Buys Happiness, The Wright Brothers, and The Seven Mysteries of Life. Other films include Silence! a feature with all dialogue, music, and fx performed live onstage.

Peggy Case is an Emmy-winning director and producer. Her work has appeared on PBS, the BBC, Channel 4/UK, the Discovery Channel, and elsewhere. Peggy is currently in production on a documentary titled "The National Goat Show”. Her production company, Mad As Birds (www.madasbirds.com), is based in Seattle.

cinematographer
Benjamin Kasulke graduated from Ithaca College with a B.S. in Cinema Production, including advanced study at the Filmov¡¡ì¢ a Televizn¡¡ìª Fakulta Akadmie Muzickych Umn¡¡ìª, Prague’s National Academy of Film. Film collaborations include work with 33 Fainting Spells, Linas Phillips and Guy Maddin.

co-editor
Michelle Witten studied Film Production at Ithaca College. After graduating, she worked at The Post Factory, in New York City. She is a recent transplant to Seattle, and, besides collaborating with The Film Company, she works as an editor for other local filmmakers, and skates as a Rat City Rollergirl.\

art director
Tania Kupczak graduated from Oberlin College with degrees in Molecular Biology and Art History. She received her MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College, with an emphasis on Installation Art, Digital Media and Cyberfeminism.Tania shows her work in New York City, Chicago, Seattle, and cyberspaces in between.

sound designer
A musician-turned-sound designer, Vince Smith is a graduate of the Digital Audio program at Shoreline Community College. He has been working in field audio production for the past several years. We Go Way Back marks his debut as a feature film sound designer.

songs and music
Laura Veirs is a Seattle-based singer/songwriter who has put out four albums since 2001. The last two, Carbon Glacier and Year of Meteors, were released by Nonesuch Records.

short bios of key cast members

kate-at-23
Currently a resident of New York City, Amber Hubert is a Seattle native and a graduate of the BFA Acting program at Cornish College of the Arts. We Go Way Back is her feature film debut.

kate-at-13
Maggie Brown is a 9th grader at Garfield High School in Seattle.  She has worked extensively with theater artist Megan Murphy, most recently performing in "The Rich Grandeur of Boxing" in Paris in October.  Her interests include classical guitar and most things Japanese. We Go Way Back is her feature film debut.

the director
Acclaimed actor Robert Hamilton Wright has been a mainstay presence on Seattle’s legitimate theater scene for the past two decades. Throughout that period, he has appeared consistently on the stages of the Seattle Repertory Theater, ACT and Intiman, among other venues. His work has been called “incredible”, “compelling” and “hilarious”.

contact info

Lynn Shelton
Director
seashel@earthlink.net
(206) 706-7693 ph
(206) 841-7693 cell

Gregg Lachow
Producer
The Film Company
gregg@thefilmcompany.org
(206) 323-1889

Downloads

Press PDF
Soundtrack PDF
Image 1 {photo by Mark sullo - please credit}
Image 2 {photo by Mark sullo - please credit}
Image 3 {photo by Mark sullo - please credit}
Director Photo {photo by Mark sullo - please credit}