We believe films can help us understand some of the most challenging emotions we feel. YOU CAN GO HOME WHENEVER YOU WANT is about if Heaven is so great, why do we stick around down here? After a lifetime of experience and years at seminary, we think we've got a good reason to share.

You Can Go Home Whenever You Want is an existential buddy comedy about the power of the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of our place in the universe. It’s like if Everything Everywhere all At Once married The Leftovers and their child was raised by Andrei Tarkovsky. 

Home is also part of the Sundance Directors Workshop. Writer/Director Matt Everitt has been workshopping with the incredible team at Sundance to make this the best version of the story possible.

You Can Go Home Whenever You Want is a short film about The Custodian, an isolated man living off the grid, who protects a mysterious hill that might be a direct conduit to the next life. Or heaven. Or whatever. In exchange for a photo, a personal token, and a signature, The Custodian's guests receive his blessing to await their fate at the top of the hill as dawn approaches. 

That is, until one of the guests is an old school friend, surprising The Custodian with a birthday cake and hidden intentions.

Over the course of an evening, many memories shared, and a few too many beers, they rekindle a long-forgotten friendship. By the end of the night, they'll both have to come to terms with the stories they've told themselves about the value of their lives and will both have to decide what to do about their choices.

THE LOCATION

THE SET, BEING BUILT

TEST SCENE FOR SUNDANCE WORKSHOP

From Matt:

"The root of this story is how the worst person I've ever known in my life beleived the same stories I did about God. He was (still is, but that's another story) a pastor and found a way to believe he was doing the right thing when he was stealing from his church and emotionally, spiritually, and sexually abusing his staff. That belief in your own story is incredibly dangerous, but also incredibly powerful. With the help of a therapist, I changed my own story from victim to something much richer and deeper. It's through all this I realized how close our beliefs are to some concept of truth matters way less than the importance of how that belief influences how we treat others. "

The tone of Home is a mash-up of extremes: on one end, the solemnity of religious devotion, the other, relief and comfort of comic irreverence. We laugh at funerals and cry at weddings. Both have a liturgy we are expected to play a part in.

Like The Custodian who feels called to live outdoors but suffers from horrible allergies, anyone who can’t laugh at the irony of the cards life deals us has lost the thread. Somewhere between total acceptance (at the cost of logic and reason) or total denial (at the cost of magic and wonder), the truth lies in the middle.

When dealing with the kind of topics that Home does, there’s a tradition of static, cold, 4:3 ratio religious films. Black and white. Slow. Worst of all, boring.

I’d love to take that framework and infuse it with the energy and irreverence found in The Leftovers, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Fight Club.

Here's to the movies that really inspired us.

Everything Everywhere All At Once
Ever feel the way you felt watching this movie the first time? Of course not. No one's bold enough to create such an emotionally nuanced film that excells in junior high humor. Now we get to carry the googley eyed mantel forward. 

Stalker
The least Sci-Fi Sci-Fi movie ever made. Deeply spiritual and gorgeous. The plot device is just an excuse to interogate the characters ability to live in a world with differing beliefs than their own.

Every Pixar Movie
You're laughing, then you're crying. Both emotions hit in the deepest way when youre watching a Pixar movie. 

Creating Home wouldn't be possible without an incredibly dedicated team of both crew and cast. We've hit the jackpot.

Matt Everitt is the award-winning writer and director of You Can Go Home Whenever You Want. Previously, Matt wrote and directed the short films Waffle Home and Southampton, as well as directed music videos for Michigander and Xavier Omar.

Taylor Robinson is the Producer behind all of Matt's projects, including Home. 

Phillip Palacios is the Director of Photography of countless documentaries that meld the way people interact with the land around them. 

Jackson Ezinga is the Assistant Director who's previous work includes AD'ing Relaxer, as well as writing, directing, and starring in his own films, including the award winning License and Registration.

Dan Deacon is the Composer of Hoome and is the most exciting composer working on film scores today. His previous work includes the Netflix film Hustle, Academy Award nominated Acension, as well as the greatest remix ever made, For Sure by Future Islands (Dan Deacon Remix).

Michael B. Woods is a Chicago-based actor, writer, comedian, and director. Michael has appeared in numerous film, TV and theatrical productions including In An Instant on ABC and performed reoccurring roles on Chicago PD on NBC and Empire on FOX. Michael has also appeared on Showtime's Shameless and the Blumhouse film Sinister 2, and is a graduate of Chicago's Second City Conservatory. Michael will be playing The Custodian.

Vic Kuligoski is a professional stage and on-camera actor out of Chicago, who has appeared in Aaron Sorkin's The Trial Of The Chicago 7. Vic will be playing Chris, the high school friend and bandmate of The Custodian. 

Christian Forrest is known for roles in Escape from Tomorrow and Chicago P.D. Christian will be playing Brent, another high school friend and bandmate of Chris and The Custodian.

 

We beleive in this project. We wouldn't be here if we didn't! But we can't do it alone, and believe us, we've tried.

Filming in the middle of the woods looks great on camera but on paper is very expensive. We have to transport people, food, and gear to and from set every day which adds up very quickly.

Also, we are conscious of the risks of filming while COVID 19 is still effecting peoples' health and on set logistics. Testing for COVID regularly as well as training and maintaining compliance with safety guidelines is an added out-of-pocket expense to the production.

Future site of The Custodian's shack: 

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Want to see more movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once? YOU CAN GO HOME WHENEVER YOU WANT is about a hill that may (or may not) be a direct conduit to the next life, shitty garage bands, and the reasons we create to keep on going when life doesn’t make sense. Learn more here: shorturl.at/chmrs

Thank you endlessly for your support, your donations, and your excitement.

-Matt and everyone