Celebrating the Centennial of Route 66, a documentary about the towns, people, and landscapes reflecting what America means along the Mother Road.
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Along the frontage road
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Mother Road is a feature documentary capturing the impact of our current cultural and political landscape on rural America along Route 66. The film is directed and shot by four NYU film students during the route's Centennial.
Loosely inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road, the film follows a westward crossing of the country in search of politically disparate people, small business owners, motel keepers, mayors, rodeo riders, and everyone in between, asking how the places we live shape us, and how this particular American moment feels for the people living through it.
We're four documentary students from Joplin, MO; Keller, TX; and Berkeley and Encinitas, CA. We have been recognized at national festivals with short films shown at SFFILM, Mill Valley, SF DocFest, and the All American Film Festival. This is the biggest thing any of us has made. We're deeply committed to telling this important story and incredibly excited for everything to come.
"A time capsule of our current moment, a dying culture, and an attempt to understand our country as it exists today."
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Hi! We’re Kaiya Jordan, Alex Carson, Ava Lorch, and Caeden Conley. We’re four documentarians and filmmakers studying at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. A little bit about each of us: Specializing in documentary and multimedia, at the heart of Kaiya’s creative practice is a mission to capture and explore the complexities of human connection. Originally from Southwest Missouri, Alex draws deep artistic inspiration from the Ozarks and the people who call it home. In her work, she is driven by three core values: the (1) Dignification, (2) Humanization, (3) and Humorization of women, rural voices, and marginalized peoples. Ava’s work is an exploration of the intersection of nature and art, emphasizing environmentalist themes through documentary. Caeden’s work blends realism with classic Americana, and he prides himself on fostering enjoyable, collaborative experiences for those around him. Together, we’re four passionate, ambitious, and dedicated individuals who hope to make concrete change through storytelling and perspective .
Daniel Freeman is an independent filmmaker, documentary editor, and composer based in San Francisco. A 2019–2020 SFFILM FilmHouse resident, he wrote, directed, and edited his award-winning debut feature Teddy, Out of Tune, which screened at Mill Valley, Bushwick, and Maryland Film Festivals. As an editor and composer, he's worked on documentary and installation projects including Junior Tu Papá (True/False, FICCI), and is a founding member of the cinematic duo nobozos. He's currently editing and composing Stray Embers, a documentary on the aftermath of California's most destructive wildfire.
Visit Daniel's website →
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