A LETTER FROM THE DIRECTORS

ASHLAND is a modern-day, female-centric Western about sisterhood, drug smuggling and the ambiguity of justice. It's an action/crime film that delves deep into a central question of the human condition: how do we create a positive impact with our lives, both on those we care about and the world?

Like all of our films, this one is intensely personal. The dynamics of our two main characters – sisters Josephine (a city detective) and Susan (a farm owner) – and the themes of redemption, guilt and betrayal are ripped straight from our lives. In all the work we do, we put ourselves into the souls of our characters and use that to ignite the story. This time, we're throwing a bottle of lighter fluid on it.

This is a gritty tale captured with ferocious intensity. The stark landscapes, the moral uncertainty, the conflicted characters: this is noir, but with unique gender reversals, harsher action, and the bleached yellow of the desert replacing the inky black of asphalt.

In JOSEPHINE, we have a tough, independent woman battling for the respect of her peers and, after a tragic incident on the job, forgiveness from herself. Through the course of her primary investigation, she's forced to return to her forsaken hometown, relive the life she long-ago threw away, reconnect with what's left of her estranged family, and exhume the doubt and regret she's tried so hard to bury.

SUSAN is stuck. Getting pregnant too young and remanded to running the family farm after her and Josephine's parents died, she looks at life through jaded eyes. Wishing for more and futilely grasping at freedom, she's unable to escape... until opportunity knocks in the form of assisting a drug-smuggling operation: they get to use her produce as a cover, she gets to cash in.

DARREN, the small-town kingpin, is driven by grief, rage and vengeance: his brother has been killed and he's on a rampage of retribution. A sociopath with a rigid, skewed set of ethics, he is the polar opposite of Josephine – a worthy antagonist, but also a force through which she must question her ideals. As Josephine's case narrows in on Susan, so does Darren's.

All of our characters yearn for something universal. Whether it's Josephine's redemption, Susan's yearning to break free, her daughter EMILY's quest for moral identity, or Darren's unrepentant revenge, these people fight and stand to lose big. The stakes are high and threat is imminent from page one – death lurks around every corner.

Tonally and visually, think Breaking Bad, No Country for Old Men and The Proposition. But mix with that the thematic richness of Gone Baby Gone and the familial dynamics of In Her Shoes.

We're creating a film with the hooks to get people watching, the universality to make it real, the potent questions of humanity to engage, and the emotional and intellectual weight to keep people talking long after the credits roll.

Enthusiastically yours,
Kris & Lindy Boustedt