Jess + Moss Directed by Clay Jeter, 2011

Jess, age 18 (Sarah Hagan, Freaks and Geeks, TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Moss, age 12 (Austin Vickers) are second cousins in the dark-fire tobacco fields of rural Western Kentucky. Without immediate families that they can relate to, and lacking friends their own age, they only have each other. Over the course of a summer they venture on a journey exploring deep secrets and hopes of a future while being confronted with fears of isolation, abandonment and an unknown tomorrow. Through a series of memories and vignettes, Director Clay Jeter creates a lyrical tale of two solitary, playful and young souls in JESS + MOSS. Jeter delicately imposes a complex assemblage of ways of looking and listening – planes of focus, select pieces of music, and expert sound engineering to call attention to cryptic, but suggestive details. The film creates a world where mundane elements swell to bursting and demonstrate the power of cinema to capture the sensation of memory; the beautiful and tragic feeling of the fleeting; and the preciousness of youth and all of its disasters.
An Official Selection of the 2011 Berlinale and Sundance Film Festivals, this lush, spellbinding American indie garnered international acclaim and multiple awards.

Awards:

2011 Dallas International Film Festival: Best Narrative Feature
2011 Prague Fresh Film Fest: Best Feature Film
2011 Nashville Film Festival: Best Tennessee Feature
2011 Indianapolis International Film Festival: Indianapolis Museum of Art - Culturally Adventurous Award