Screening at the Seattle International Film Festival this year, Sadie is Seattle director Megan Griffiths’ sixth feature film, and tells the story of a 13-year-old girl living with her mother in a trailer park and struggling with the prolonged absence of her military father. Described in Variety as “equal parts coming-of-age story and slow-burn thriller,” the film’s titular character (played by Sophia Mitri Schloss) is intensely loyal to her dad and willing to go to extreme measures to keep her mother away from a new boyfriend.
Griffiths began working on the script for Sadie in 2009, her theme of inescapable violence in American culture just as relevant then as it is today. “I have been working with my producer Lacey Leavitt for eight years to get Sadie to the screen,” Griffiths says. “We were joined in 2016 by [producer] Jennessa West, who was a true champion of the film as well and pushed us over the finish line. It’s difficult to get any film made, and this was no exception, but ultimately we pulled together an incredible team and made a beautiful film that we’re all very proud of.”
Sadie was filmed in Washington, primarily in an Everett trailer park. “The film was written for Washington and we never considered shooting it anywhere else,” Griffiths explains. “Washington is home for myself and my producers, and we all love and support the industry here whenever we possibly can.” The production hired about 100 crew members and shot for 19 days, mostly in Everett but also at various locations in Burien, Shoreline and Seattle.
Griffiths describes Sadie as a “long labor of love,” and is thankful to its all-local (and 50 percent female) crew for getting it made at last. “I think it represents the best of our city’s film community, and I’m so proud to take it out into the wider world to show what our local industry is capable of.”
You can catch Sadie at SIFF on both May 27 (preceded by an interview with star Melanie Lynskey) and June 6.