A father and son walk through a peaceful green forest, talking and horsing around. But this is no ordinary excursion during an ordinary time. Ethan and his son Thomas are wearing gas masks because toxic mushrooms called sundowns have made the air deadly to breathe. And they’re out on a dangerous mission to harvest these poisonous fungi to make more antidote — or else suffer the deadly effects of sundown.

But just as they’ve found some sundowns, thieving bandits happen upon them, stealing the antidote they carry as a safeguard and exposing them to the poisonous air. With not enough antidote left for them both, it’s up to the young boy to save them both.

Director’s Vision

I shot SUNDOWN TRAIL in 2019… well before masks were a thing. when you make a post-apocalyptic film, you don’t expect part of it to come true while you’re in the midst of post-production… but, well that happened.

with this film, I wanted to tell a compelling, exciting, and intense story, combing two of my favorite genres, Sci-Fi and Westerns. because while the setting and style of SUNDOWN TRAIL is science fiction, thematically it’s a Western. basically I’m playing with the “Pa got snakebit, I gotta go for antidote” trope in Westerns. it’s also a coming of age story. it takes a boy and it puts him into the hardest possible situation. he has to take responsibility, for himself, his father, and even a stranger.

SUNDOWN TRAIL is a story about personal responsibility, strength, compassion, and forgiveness. it’s about standing up to evil, but also knowing when to offer a helping hand. it’s about being brave enough to lead, about to do the hard things that others won’t. being strong doesn’t mean being cruel. and protecting what you value doesn’t mean keeping others away. ultimately, our hero learns that he can do both. he can take care of his family, while at the same time show compassion — and through this pave the way to a better future.