A teenage boy’s relationship with a girl changes forever after an encounter with her step-father. What starts out as flirting between a young, interracial couple, turns into a dangerous game when they break into a seemingly abandoned house.

Director’s Statement

BREAK is a story about youth and race in the American suburbs. The film is inspired by my experience growing up as a bi-racial teenager in Massachusetts. Being African-American and German, my family and I stood out from our ninety-seven percent white community. When I was sixteen, I started to notice subtle racist comments at school and in my town. My cousin got in a fight over a racist joke, my father was called a n*gger by our neighbor and my brother wasn’t allowed to date a girl by her father because of the color of his skin. With BREAK, I wanted to put the audience in the shoes of a black teenager just beginning to recognize the racism he’s up against and the effect it will have on his relationships. After directing several successful shorts with BullMoose Pictures, I felt prepared to tell this story and tackle the nuances of the subject matter.