There are parks, waterfalls and river walks.
I met Stefiuk and other students at last years Telluride.
It stayed with me and I wanted to know the circumstances behind him writing it.
‘The Clearing’, Jacob StefiukTamin Ahmed/Béatrice Lévéille
His grandmother had been ill at the time, and she was very much on his mind.
I ended up writing a bunch of little poetic monologues and whatnot.
And that sort of came out from that time.
Jacob Stefiuk, second from right, with members of the 2023 Telluride intake (Baz Bamigboye /Deadline)
Stefiuk began the process of assembling a bare-bones crew that often doubled duties.
Most were friends with whom he studied with at university or hed met on other sets.
Theres a sort of reciprocal arrangement of helping one another out.
That was really, really, really helpful, he says with a big smile.
Its really kind of like a family.
She responded after seeing a casting notice on Facebook.
Jacob met her for coffee, and she was cast on the spot.
Three weeks later, Stefiuk called Eichenberger.
And I said, Hey, remember me?
Half a century later, the great-grandfather returned to his homeland.
Thats was crazy; what was that?
But then those churches ended up being abandoned, and theyre kind of just sitting there dormant.
And to me that was kind of the perfect analogy.
