In our modern culture we rely quite heavily on our 'perceptions' to define our truths. We surmise conclusions when given only rough sketches of things and we make these assumptions, which are strictly based on our biases and beliefs, in order to validate our world views and help us feel safe.
On one hand, I believe that this impulse is a fundamental and timeless function of being human, something that has always been so, however, with the prominence of social media, the myth-making machine, this has become more pronounced and is now so normalized in our contemporary culture that most of us fall prey to it on a daily basis with only a vague awareness of the far-reaching implications.
As we are continuously faced with heavily edited and filtered narratives, we have become immune to how our perceptions alone are the keys to how we navigate our modern world.
As a mother, I am committed to teaching my children to see the world through a compassionate lens, one that prevents them from 'judging a book by its cover'. I have always believed that to be a very important practice as one can miss the potential of a situation, person, place, or thing by unfairly judging it by its outward appearances. The spirit of this expression teaches us to never assume the worst. What struck me, conversely, as the core of this story took shape, was the potential danger that can result when our assumptions lull us into a false sense of security.
My intention with this film is to evoke the emotional journey
I experienced when I was blindsided by my own narrow perceptions and faced with a harsh awakening when my fantasy and reality clashed and left me reeling.
In an attempt to achieve a safe distance from something alarming,
I had conveniently packed up the details of a situation into a terrific little cliché, one that gave me the assurance that I would never fail to miss something so obvious. This had on some level made me feel safe, but ironically, it had actually propelled me into a state of ignorance and in reality, left me even more vulnerable.
My hope with this film is that it opens the eyes and quiets the minds of our viewers long enough to process a deeper awareness of how each one of us filters information and how generating unsupported narratives can lead us down dangerous paths, paved with our own narrow assumptions.
May 'Tomorrow' inspire audiences to look closer and examine their individual measures of reality and explore how we all participate in perpetuating falsehoods when we neglect to see past the facades.