Watch is a film about two next door neighbors, Charlie and Jonathan, who feel alienated from their suburban surroundings and from themselves. When their feelings of angst and isolation pull them to one another during the tense heat and boredom of summer, they make a series of impulsive decisions over the course of an afternoon without thinking of the longer term consequences. As the afternoon progresses and sunset nears, the fantasy fades away, and the cold realization of what they've done begins to rear its head.

Charlie (19) is the protagonist of the film. Though he just got home from college for the summer, he's already bored out of his mind -- there's only so much reading, playing guitar, and milling around the house he can stand before he goes crazy. During a party at his parents' house one evening, he's approached by his handsome, kind of awkward yet charming neighbor Jonathan, and he develops a new fixation -- watching Jonathan from across the street, and noticing when Jonathan is watching him.

Jonathan (mid 40s) is Charlie's across the street neighbor. He is dissatisfied and in need of bolstering in many ways -- he's unemployed, his wife is gone a lot, and he has a somewhat aimless vibe about him. He spends his days doing yard work in his front yard. But when he sees Charlie at Charlie's parents' party, he starts looking at Charlie in a different way and can't stop thinking about him. As they continue staring at one another from across the street, he knows it's only a matter of time before something happens.

This film is based on a short story I wrote in college that I always had greater aspirations for, and I am eager to execute my vision for the story to its fullest potential. Films about suburban discontent have always appealed to me -- Little Children, Revolutionary Road, Blue Velvet, American Beauty -- and I have been excited to add my own voice to that world. I wanted to create a film that felt reflective of the small town where I grew up, where summer felt like it lasted forever and the boredom of it became an isolation that led to domestic explosiveness between the two central characters in the film.

Additionally, this film really reflects the desire that I have experienced through my adolescence and early adulthood to make sense of my relationships with the older men in my life -- to be near them, to be seen by them, to understand them. In Watch, Charlie goes through something similar in the course of one afternoon with Jonathan, and he is left disappointed and devastated. I feel that it's an abbreviated way to tell the story of much of my own life. My hope and goal is that anyone who has experienced similar relationships (whether they were short or long) will feel their own experiences are being reflected back to them in the film, as that is my primary goal as a filmmaker.

Me on the set of my previous short film Mr. Harris last summer

After directing my short film Mr. Harris last year, the first thing I wanted to do was start work on another project. Now that Mr. Harris has been completed and submitted to festivals around the country (and will be premiering at the Long Beach Underground Film Festival in July!), I am excited to start on what's next for me and take on a new challenge as a filmmaker. I am beyond ecstatic to begin working on Watch, as it incorporates more complex storytelling elements from a script standpoint as well as a production standpoint, with more team members and locations.

This short film is a proof of concept for a feature film that I plan to shoot in 2027. In order to make the feature film, I first want to make this to demonstrate to film festivals and to the world that I have the capabilities to pull off a whole feature film. I have the feature script written, and my plan is to work with as many team members from Watch as possible once the full length version is ready to go into production.

We are shooting Watch this summer in Los Angeles -- we just need your help to make our plan and vision a reality. We have an incredible team of cast and crew coming together to make this happen, many of whom are BIPOC and/or members of the LGBT community. Our plan is to submit the film to festivals once it's finished and then eventually turn it into a feature.

We have our cast and crew secured and our locations booked -- what we need is your help to help us raise the funds to pay our team what they deserve and make Watch a reality. We hope that you will join us in making our film possible by contributing to our campaign and by spreading the word.

If you contribute to our film, your support means that you are championing LGBT and BIPOC talent in front of and behind the camera, supporting independent film, and allowing more thought-provoking stories to be out in the world.

We appreciate any contribution you're able to make -- no contribution is too small. Please check out our incentives for the different pledge levels -- we are so excited about them!

If you are unable to make a contribution, please consider sharing the campaign on your socials (our Instagram is @milagro_pictures and Max's Instagram is @max.luque) -- sharing the campaign on socials and sending it directly to those in your network is as valuable as making a contribution!

Thank you so much for your support and being part of this process with us -- it truly means everything. We can't wait to share Watch with you!

Film stills from the films Aftersun, Revolutionary Road, The Virgin Suicides, and Wonders of Life.