PR

Drama · Runtime 28:26 · Aspect Ratio 4:3 ·
Shot in Honolulu, Hawaii 2026

Overview

PR follows a middle-aged man in Hawaii who quietly trains for months to deadlift 300 pounds. To the gym-bros around him, his daily grind looks like vanity, ego, or some late attempt to impress women. But his real motivation remains private, as most true motivations do. Set against the ordinary rhythms of local life, PR uses time, repetition, and routine to let the everyday breathe. The film looks for a Hawaii hidden in plain sight; not the postcard fantasy, and not the weight of history, but the mundane spaces in between, where small acts of discipline and love can become their own kind of triumph.

Director Statement 

PR is my attempt to capture Hawaii as I experienced it; not as a fantasy, not as a destination, but as a place where ordinary life unfolds with its own quiet force. I wanted the viewer to sit inside that everyday rhythm. The long takes are intentional. They ask the audience to stay, to look, to wander with their own mind, and to engage with what is happening beneath the surface. I did not want to spoon-feed familiar island tropes or reduce Hawaii to beauty shots and shorthand. I wanted the viewer, for a little while, to feel what it is like to be there and live there as a resident. The film is also deeply personal. I was able to work with my wife, Jen Hastings, whom I met in Hawaii, to write a song that carries the emotional tone of the piece. That collaboration helped bring the film closer to the feeling I was chasing: something quiet, intimate, and felt through time. PR was made to be watched with attention in a theater, with the lights off, without distraction. The film asks for concentration because that is where its emotion lives: not in explanation, but in the accumulation of time, breath, sound, repetition, and care.