What is Memory Box?

Memory Box is a psycho-sexual sci-fi tinged short film by the award-winning directing team of Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell. 

It tells the story of Isabelle, a young mother who works at a memory-recreation facility where actors recreate clients' memories. Her job is jeopardized when a client pushes her to break the rules and cross lines, and she's forced to decide how far she's willing to go. Dreams and fantasy become entangled with memory. Assumptions are upended as reality is deconstructed, and we have to wonder who is really pushing whom. 

The Cast

Memory Box stars Mackenzie Davis (Halt and Catch Fire, The Martian) who has a slate of films nearing release. The leading man is played by Shane Carruth: writer, director, and star of Primer and Upstream Color. Shane and directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell met at Sundance 2013, where they were screening films, and they spent the flight back to NY drinking bloody mary's and talking movies and life. The film also features Louis Cancelmi, KK Moggie, and Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson.

The Concept

The film's story revolves around a sci-fi/speculative tech concept, of a place where people in a remote location direct actors to enact memories or fantasies, but the characters deal with the kinds of power struggles that we all have to negotiate in our relationships, as others' needs and desires don't always line up with our own. 

When Isabelle is pushed y a client to go further and further in each session, she has to decide whether to break the rules, or find another solution that allows her to get what she wants. 

The Directing Team

Directors: Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell have been a couple in filmmaking and life for over 15 years, making films and raising a small brood of rescue animals. Their past films include Until the Light Takes Us, an award-winning, internationally distributed feature documentary about Norwegian black metal (see the trailer above, under the main video) and 99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film (trailer also above), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was acquired for distribution by Participant Media (Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, Citizen Four, The Cove). 

Memory Box marks Aaron and Audrey's directorial move into fiction filmmaking. The film itself was designed as a proof-of-concept for a feature version, which they were developing with an agency. This film introduces us to the characters, their struggle, and the world they inhabit. Aaron and Audrey were looking forward to making their first narrative feature together. 

They were also engaged to be married.

Then Everything Changed

In January 2016, Aaron was diagnosed with cancer. Despite an intense, fiercely-waged battle to save him, Aaron died in April 2016. Memory Box, his directorial debut as a narrative director, now stands as the final film in his legacy. 

We are asking for your help in bringing this film to light. 

What Happens Next

Risks & Challenges

This is happening, come hell or high water. Literally nothing could stop Audrey from getting Aaron's work out. 

Collaborators

The film was shot by Eric Lin, an award-winning cinematographer whose films include I Smile Back (with Sarah Silverman), Equity (Sony Pictures Classics), and the upcoming Aardvark, starring Zachary Quinto and Jenny Slate. Memory Box was produced by Audrey Ewell, Aaron Aites, and Amy Lo: Amy has been active in the VR filmmaking sphere, with films produced for PBS and soon to launch at the Sundance Film Festival. Executive Producers include Cameron and Tyler Brodie, whose films include I Origins, The Wolfpack, Until The Light Takes Us and It Felt Like Love and Brooke Devine, EP of films including The Great Invisible, Goodbye Solo, and 99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film. Memory Box was edited by Julia Bloch, whose credits include Foxcatcher, The Green Room, and the forthcoming Woodshock, starring Kirsten Dunst. Memory Box features the music of Tim Hecker.

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