RICH HILL: SARAH

A time capsule, twelve years in the making: an intimate longitudinal exploration on family and growing up in rural America, from childhood dreams and pubescent melancholy to the back-breaking realities of parenthood, cycles of abuse, addiction and regret, and ultimately the joy and redemptive power of enduring love and lasting hope for more.

“With RICH HILL,” 2014 Sundance Winner, “The audiences embraced the young men - there was understanding, empathy - but not so much for their mothers, who had all been teenagers when their sons were born. For the moms, there was judgment - why weren’t they better role models? Why did they have kids so young? That’s when I started to film with Sarah.” - Tracy Droz Tragos

Spanning twelve years, RICH HILL: SARAH chronicles the life of a 14-year-old high school girl who excels at math, exploring her choices and overwhelming family responsibility as she grows up to become a 26-year-old woman with three children, a minimum-wage job as a home health aide and a hard-earned GED. When dreams collide with hardships and lack of opportunity in rural America, Sarah and her siblings, just like the generation before them, make a series of compromises from which it seems unlikely they will recover.

Ultimately, this film is a meditation on family, the role of women in a family, and time itself - how people change and may also be stuck. Despite moments of great joy and celebration, and the redemptive power of enduring love - there is also deep regret and frustration, when teenagers face the back-breaking realities of parenthood - especially pregnancy and motherhood - and are drawn into repeated cycles of dropping out of school, abuse and addiction.

The smallest details of getting ready for work or bathing a baby are the memories years later that resonate. There are also destructive patterns that are revealed only with distance. A film about time will not always unfold chronologically, but sometimes embrace juxtaposition and montage, creating an impressionistic space for the audience to look at their own lives and choices - to remember who they once were and who they are now. Inspired by Apted's series “7 and Up,” Linklater's film “Boyhood,” and Edward Albee's “Three Tall Women” - RICH HILL: SARAH is a long-form exploration on growing up, gender roles, identity and survival over time. 

This film is currently late-production (with an anticipated release in 2025) and has received support fromCATAPULT FILM FUND and theJOHN SIMON GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION