Walking Out

David, 14, travels to rural Montana for his annual hunting trip with Cal, his estranged father. As they ascend into the wilderness, Cal teaches David about predators & prey, rifles & rituals, the harsh present & the haunted past. For every step forward they make, they slip two steps back in their fraught, tenuous relationship. When man versus mountain results in a serious injury to Cal, David must lift his father onto his back-- and carry him out. With Cal constantly losing blood, each step becomes more epic than the last. Their journey strips them of everything-- but also gives them a way to love each other. In doing so, the son becomes the father of the man. WALKING OUT is a primal tale of connection, survival and the true path to manhood. At its core, it takes on American/Western mythos and examines whether violence is the necessary path to masculine maturity. Our film cuts against the grain of this assumption-- suggesting that survival, that becoming a true man-- may depend on compassion instead.