A desperate father who’s exhaustive search for his missing son leads him down a path of unintended exile

MISSING is a meditative character study focusing on Paul Harper. A desperate father who’s exhaustive search for his lost son has led him down a path of unintended exile. Filmmaker Alexander Hankoff creates an incredibly tense atmosphere through the film’s silence. As we follow Paul’s search, we start to get a much deeper sense of his state of mind.

The motivation behind the project came late last year when I had just taken ownership of my Alexa LF camera and Cooke S7 lenses. I wrote the film with the intention for it to be the first movie shot on that camera and lens combination. That being said, we were slowed down in post because our collaborators on this were generous enough to do it for free. And you cut rush your friends when they’re doing you such a tremendous favor! So it’s finally coming out a year later. But unfortunately won’t have the bragging rights as first film shot on that lens and camera combo. (unless the audience looks at the ARRI metadata haha).

Nearly half a million people went missing in 2018 alone

The inspiration for the story was to bring the audience into a situation that so many around the world have experienced, but the majority of people don’t really think about unless faced with a Missing poster at the post office or a 30 second announcement on the local news. I wanted to show what happens when the news cycle has run it’s course. And the loved ones of the missing person are still left searching for answers. According to the FBI, nearly half a million people went missing in 2018 alone. It was my intention to bring the personal story of one out of that half million to the surface so people could empathize with an ongoing crisis.

Alexander and his crew filmed Missing in the fall of 2018 in upstate New York. Shot in Harriman State Park and the town of Lake George, a setting that gave the film its incredible tone. The splendid and perfectly detailed photography carries the emotionally heavy storyline. But yet, Missing’s strongest detail must be the memorable solo performance by Paul Arthaud. He simply owned the screen offering a rather imposing and moving delivery.