American Dendrite is a meditation on the interconnectedness of human culture and the natural world. By taking a snapshot of this present moment in our country and climate, we hope to understand the dreams and fears of Americans from many backgrounds and walks of life - and uncover what binds us all.

A Journey, Connected by Water

This summer, our small filmmaking team set out on a road trip across America. We had a goal, a route, and an old-school Super 8 film camera, but had no concrete plan for what we would find along the way - nor even fully knew what our film was going to be about until our adventure was finished.

Starting in Chicago, we followed the path of water as it flows from Lake Michigan, to the Mississippi River, and through the heart of the country before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. We captured the sights and sounds of the different landscapes, people, and local cultures we encountered.

Along the way, we talked with everyday people in the many places touched by the flow of the rivers. We asked them to share whatever stories, memories, thoughts and feelings they were having, anything that they wanted to share with others. The only prompt we gave them was allowing them to listen to what the person beforehand had shared with us – a game of telephone, of sorts.

This is American Dendrite: a river of stories, people, and places. It's a time capsule of this pivotal, present moment in the USA's climate, culture, and collective consciousness - and how they interconnect us all.

 

Where Human Stories Meet Geography

American Dendrite was born out of a simple question: where does our water go? The water cycles of the world are inseparable from one another, and each drop of water on Earth is constantly flowing towards wherever it may go next.

Likewise, human culture has always grown around, and been shaped by, water and geography. In this important moment in the history of America, we wanted to approach it from the vantage point of the lifeblood that connects us all. What does it mean to be from a place, and how do these shared forces of water and nature affect each of us?

"Dendrite" is a word that refers to the part of a neuron - a brain cell - that links it to others and allows thought signals to flow between them. But "dendritic" also describes something that is branching – like the roots of a tree, or the rivers of a drainage basin.

"The water cycle and our biological thought processes actually mirror each other in a number of ways. By traveling across America and putting the flow of water side-by-side with this "flow" of thoughts, we can better understand this vital moment in our incredibly complex country through a unique perspective - while being able to imbue it with a spirit of adventure and wonder."

–Adam Marshall Present, Director

 

A Collective Experience

By taking a deliberately unstructured approach, we allowed ourselves to discover what our film would be about as we were making it. While we knew how we were going to make American Dendrite, and roughly our route of travel, we wanted the places and people we encountered to ultimately guide us.

Our travels led us to amazing experiences that we never could have anticipated. We witnessed landscapes and local cultures change again and again. We found people and places grappling with a range of difficult issues, everything from their personal conflicts, to local challenges, to worries about the future of the country and planet.

However, what amazed us most as we progressed along our journey was a common refrain of perseverence and kindness in everyone we met, and finding comfort in their communities and everyday moments of joy. 

Like a river, the film has many unique bends and branches. But as a collective whole, a shared spirit emerges of what it means to be an American right now - a spirit of finding and sharing goodness through even the toughest of challenges. 

 

One-of-a-Kind: A Super 8 Feature Film

In addition to what makes it unique in genre and story, American Dendrite is one of only a very few number of feature films ever made to be shot entirely on Super 8 film. Developed predominantly for home videos and consumer use between the 1960's and the 1980's, Super 8 today is a niche community with only a small number of dedicated filmmakers still using surviving cameras. With a grainy image quality and limits to the way it can be used that are easily solved by using digital cameras or even larger analog film formats, it's rarely used to shoot any professional project, let alone an entire feature.

So why take on this challenge and make American Dendrite with a camera over 40 years old? From its early days, Super 8 was designed to be an accessible way for anyone - trained filmmaker or not - to capture the moving world around them. A culture of spontaneity, adventure, grittiness, and authenticity grew around the types of videos and projects made with it.

This is the soul we wanted to capture at the heart of American Dendrite - seeing the country not through the crispest of lenses, but through all its realities and imperfections. We felt the Super 8 spirit went hand-in-hand with our free-flowing film, and by doing so were able to imbue a little part of the great American road trip tradition into our journey.

The result is a film with a visual style that has truly never before been seen on the big screen.

 

The Adventure Continues - and You're Apart of It

With our trip completed and American Dendrite already "in the can" (literally!), we're currently diving into post-production and cannot wait to share the amazing stories, people, and places of our adventure with you. 

Editing a film and launching it into the world requires a lot of effort and teamwork – and that's where you come in. By supporting our campaign, you'll help us push the film over the finish line, and help us share American Dendrite with the world.

Your contributions will help us fund necessary expenses, such as hiring a sound mixer and colorist, to polish the film and make it look and sound the very best it can be. Furthermore, you'll aid our efforts to submit American Dendrite to film festivals all over the globe, so more people can experience this unique adventure. 

By gaining momentum from festivals, we then hope to bring the film to local theaters around the country - especially in the places through which we traveled - for community screening events. Maybe we'll even be able to show American Dendrite near you!

But we can't take these next steps without you. While our literal trip is over, the journey of this film is not.  By joining the American Dendrite adventure, you'll help support our efforts to make the finished film the very best it can be and share it with others. American Dendrite is a film about connection and community above all else, and we're so excited for you to become a part of ours.

We hope you'll come along for the ride.

Spread the Word

Whether you're able to contribute financially or not, there's plenty of ways to support our campaign! Spread the word by sharing this page on your social media, with friends and colleagues who you think might be interested in the project, or however else you're able! American Dendrite is all about passing along ideas to the next person, and we hope you'll do the same and help share this with others.

 

Feel free to copy and paste either these to help you share:

Help filmmaker Adam Marshall Present and his team finish "American Dendrite", his unique documentary about the USA's climate and communities! Join them on Seed and Spark: https://bit.ly/AmericanDendrite

Support the Northwestern filmmakers behind "American Dendrite", a unqiue documentary about the USA's climate and communities, by helping them complete the film! Join them on Seed and Spark: https://bit.ly/AmericanDendrite

Help the creators of one of the only Super 8 feature films ever made: "American Dendrite", a unqiue documentary about the USA's climate and communities. Support the completion of the film on Seed and Spark: https://bit.ly/AmericanDendrite

 

And here's the link to this page:

https://bit.ly/AmericanDendrite