Recesses — Dylan Trupiano

Recesses (2025)

An elementary school secretary waits with an 11-year-old student to be picked up by his father after being disciplined for an “inappropriate” drawing.

Starring -- Solia Cates, Charles John Wilson, Bryant Carroll, Jeremy Roth-Rose, Ruth Crawford

Writer/Director - Dylan Trupiano
Producers - Page Brady, Talia Light Rake, Noah Morse, Dylan Trupiano
Executive Producers - Nir Liebenthal, Mark Morse, Maureen Morse, Jeremy Roth-Rose, Jarad Schwartz

Director of Photography - Cece Chan
Production Designer - Zachary Thomas
Editor - Dylan Trupiano
Composer - Chihei Hatakeyama

Additional Music - Taylor Deupree
Costume Designer - Hannah Scout Dunaway
Sound Mixer - Ethan Zeitman
VFX Supervisor - Keaton McQuarrie
Casting Director - Stacey Pianko
Script Supervisor - Noah Morse

Line Producer / First Assistant Director - Talia Light Rake
1st Assistant Camera - Andrew Lin
2nd Assistant Camera - Wallace Healot
Gaffer - Trevor Stevens
Key Grip - Fred Gomez
G&E Swing - Spencer Haydo
Sound Engineer - Andre Botessi
Production Assistants - Stefan Kobiljak, Chloe Trupiano, Alex Wozny
Development Consultant - Ronni Shaw
Colorist - Zack Chalmers

*Official Selection*

-Atlanta Film Festival
-HollyShorts Film Festival
-Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival
-IFF Boston
-Tallgrass Film Festival
- Rhode Island International Film Festival
-Dances With Films
-Capital City Film Festival
- Charlotte Film Festival
- Hell's Half Mile Film and Music Festival
(Jury Award Winner for Best Actor - Solia Cates)

- Recipient of the Panavision
New Filmmaker Grant
- Staff Pick on Seed&Spark

Press:
League of Filmmakers Interview
Bond on Cinema Interview

Director's Statement: This film was born out of a desire to unpack a traumatic experience from my childhood where I was violated by a friend. As a young boy living in a community with traditional ideals of masculinity, there was never an opportunity to speak up or understand what exactly had happened to me. As a result, I lived with this experience for years, unable to put a finger on what was haunting me, yet still feeling the silent toll of its repercussions. Only as an adult have I gained perspective on the experience through revisiting these elusive memories and feelings. I wanted to make this film to capture the interiority of that experience, scratching at what repression feels like at a young age. To tap into the energy of this period of my life, we shot the film in my former elementary school in suburban Michigan. Returning to this space made me confront my own memories with a new clarity, a reminder of what art can do and why I wanted to be a filmmaker. While this film was made from my personal experience, I hope it speaks to anyone forced to silently carry a deep wound.