Go Down, Diller - Narrative Short, USA

Texas Premiere!

An anxious single father seeks to protect his teenage daughter from a talking bear that works at a fast food restaurant.

A Stressed-out single father and hotel security officer Diller McCasslin’s world is thrown upside down when at his favorite fast-food restaurant encounters a bear that talks. Diller turns to his work nemesis Leon the Wine Guy for advice who insist they must “show that bear who knows best”.

Andrew Bateman is a Denver-based filmmaker who looks to tell stories of the human condition in unique and beautiful ways. Andrew was thrilled to screen his last short film Loose Change: A Memoir of Childhood to festivals around the world. Andrew’s work has thus far been recognized by grants and fellowships received from the Bay Area Video Coalition, California Humanities, Comcast, Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Coalition, and SOMArts Neighborhood News Network.
​
Andrew earned a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and a Master of Arts in American Studies from the University of New Mexico where he wrote his master’s thesis on the prescient and omnipresent artist Sun Ra. Currently, Andrew serves as a faculty member for the University of Colorado Denver where he teaches film production.

---

Director Statement 
In our main character Diller, we have a representation of the culture of domination. Diller’s job is to be in control. He takes pride in it. Leon’s solution to Diller’s anxiety about losing control is to “kill the bear”—that which Diller blames for his loss of control. However, as the social commentator and poet bell hooks argues: “A culture of domination is anti-love. It requires violence to sustain itself” and it is only through a “ethic of love” we might be guided to turn away from an ethic of domination. This in a nutshell is Diller’s dilemma and why I was inspired to make Go Down, Diller. In this historically fraught moment, I believe it is vital to tell stories of love, and that at the core of this film is a recognition of the healing and revolutionary power of love.