And Through The Portal We Go

And Through The Portal We Go is a culmination not only of many of my passions but an exploration of the power of faith and friendship. As a Millennial, and having lived through more “once-in-a-lifetime” events than I can count, how do we put our faith in something when so many of the institutions around us have let us down. In a world fractured by social media, where we are simultaneously more connected yet more alone than ever before, where do we find community?

These questions quickly lead me to the world of cults and the many charismatic leaders that claim to hold the answers. Cults have captured a lot of our collective attention in recent years. Those pandemic-era times of isolation and loneliness forced us to search for feelings of belonging and understanding. I was sucked into the worlds and drama of Wild Wild Country and The Vow, to name a few. It sparked so many questions for me to watch individuals who, at their core, were searching for something — to better themselves, find community, or create purpose. These things that are so universal in all of us and how that desire was taken advantage of, for often, nefarious purposes.

We approached creating this film by leaning on my background in devising theatre and encouraged our cast to let their characters naturally develop through a series of improvisations and rehearsals. We talked about the worlds we grew up in and the world around us. We explored how we are drawn to things around us that may not be categorized as cults, but certainly feel a little cultish – Influencers, the Self-Help Industry, Swifties, SoulCycle. They may not lead us to drinking the Kool-Aid, but they’ve definitely altered our behaviors.

As a filmmaker I love to create worlds that are grounded and real, but just a little off-kilter. So as these threads began to emerge from our research, I started to weave them together through the lens of a seemingly normal matriarchal cult with one notable difference. With so many cults trying to convince us of the fantastical, what would it look like if the collective truth of our cult, Alyom, is not up for debate?

So many stories about cults are built on the premise that the leader is selling a lie so I was fascinated about what would happen if you took that lie and made it a fact. For our characters, there IS a shimmering portal in the woods. Armed with that fact, why wouldn’t you believe everything else your leader, Yom, has told you? When things don’t go to plan, where do you look for answers? How long will your faith survive when it’s being challenged from every possible angle? How long will it take until you turn inward instead of looking to the people around you?

Meeting Katie, Craig, and Mikey was a beautiful process and I’m so grateful to Sarah Goeke, Joseph Lymous, and Taylor Curtis for the heart and hilarity they infused into their roles.

I hope audiences will enjoy the world that Yom has built and find ways to make sure the tenets in your belief systems work for you. May the light in you become the fire in me.

This is the day.

Mike Hayhurst
Director – And Through the Portal We Go