films

Links available upon request

NOW THAT WE ARE SENDING YOU TO THE END (2025)

Directing & cinematography by Blake Knecht

Utah, Nevada, Arizona // 16mm & handmade // 12 minutes

A young girl prophecies the end of time as the American Southwest drifts between myth and disappearance. Tactile filmmaking becomes a handmade record of ecological loss, using desert water, soil, and salt to echo the human imprint on a fragile landscape. Through gestures of time, material experimentation and quiet exchange, we consider what it means to approach The End.

UNTITLED YELLOW RIVER PROJECT (IN PROGRESS)

Direction by Blake Knecht and Irene Zhu // Cinematography by Blake Knecht

China // Digital & 16mm

The Yellow River becomes witness to memory and myths, its shifting course recalling histories of flood and famine layered with industrial scars, agrarian rhythms, and private remembrances. Cameraless gestures and mixed formats mirror its recollections through Qinghai, Gansu, and Henan.

THE LANGUAGE OF SILENT THINGS (IN PROGRESS)

Directing & cinematography by Blake Knecht & Gerardo Silva

In progress // USA & Uruguay // Digital

Gerardo Silva is a sheep herder from Uruguay who lives and works in rural southern Utah on an H2A agricultural visa. This short documentary follows Gerardo through a year of herding and its respective seasons: spring lambing, summer/fall pasturing, and winter grazing. As the ewes begin to birth their offspring, he reflects on the distance between himself and his eight-year-old daughter. During the solitude of the summer months, Gerardo seeks connection with his family back home. Through collaborative filmmaking, Gerardo carries a camera through the remote Utah mountains and documents his experiences in isolation.

SILENT HARBOR (2025)

Directing & cinematography by Blake Knecht

Michigan // 16mm // 6 minutes

A sailor adrift in a winter storm struggles to return. In the distance, a lighthouse emerges—a solitary beacon that reaches through the darkness to guide him toward safe harbor. Through the texture of 16mm film and the haunting echoes of archival maritime distress calls, light and sound blur, man and lighthouse become entwined in their shared yearning for connection. A meditation on isolation and resilience, the storm transforms into a shifting landscape of memory and mourning where the waters threaten to engulf but the light remains steadfast.