Two rugged cowboys, stranded in a barren wasteland, play chess on a chest full of gold. Winner gets the last bullet in a revolver, for all the gold in the world is meaningless when you’re stranded in a scorching desert with no water.

Director’s Vision for ‘Wasteland’

Wasteland is a parable about death and greed. It’s lesson being that worldly riches mean nothing if you find yourself living in a wasteland. It comments on the exploitation of our planet by modern day corporate prospectors and foreshadows impending droughts around the world.

On a more personal note, beyond paying homage to the classic spaghetti westerns of the 1960s, Wasteland is a love letter to my hometown, a suburb on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. The blistering heat and isolation I felt as a kid bred an angsty youth, but having since made my daring escape to NYC, I’ve grown to look back fondly and see the stark beauty of the desert where I spent my foremost years.