Before Elijah sells his van “Theresa” for a home with his partner, friendship and memory are left vulnerable in the outdoors on a final surf trip to the Oregon coast.

Directors Vision

Breathe Theresa was born out of family and friendship. I had been diving deep into the films of Claire Denis and Kelly Reichardt and was getting ready to take on a new project when my friend Elijah posted a photo on Instagram of himself surfing with two friends. The post discussed the inherent tension experienced by black people in the outdoors. A month later, we were filming. Elijah and I had been going on photo walks in Portland at the peak time of Black Lives Matter protests and we felt that offering a black road/outdoors movie could be our way of entering the conversations that are happening today. Elijah and I crafted the story together around fictional and non-fictional elements, pulling from the experiences he shared on surf trips with Adam and Kenny, who also star in the film.