A drug dealing basketball benchwarmer gets caught and blames his teammate out of jealousy.

We head back to high school in Richard Roger’s ‘Cottonmouth’ to see the uglier side of teen jealousy. Everything starts to transpire when a drug dealing basketball benchwarmer gets caught and blames his teammate to avoid punishment, spawning a chain reaction of events on high school picture day.

Cottonmouth is an independent project made in my senior year of film school. Growing up in schools my whole life, I felt like I could honestly tell a story about a kid in high school learning a life lesson. When I would ever try to pull something shady like the main character, after getting caught I’d always get a bad taste in my mouth (hence the title) and then this terrible feeling. From then on I’d say I learned my lesson. It’s a cautionary tale that explores the idea that human beings act as vessels for this universal force known as karma.

The film subtly flows into place while the main characters (as well as the supporting characters) grow in development, to create an unlikely and perhaps even unwanted connection to ratting teenager.