Locally made film "High Note" streaming on Amazon Prime
"High Note", the award-winning film directed by David Gustafson and Jacob Royce Gustafson by is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The "druggie, dramedy, indie musical that’s filled with Germans, Jesus, banjos, bongos, beers, and bongs" was filmed mostly in Friday Harbor. The film stars Kennedy Stinson, Tyler Roy Roberts, Sam Olive and features Tyler J Cornell, Erik Nash, Ben Buehler, Bo Turnage, Mason Turnage, Stevie Mae, Kim Mapstead, Tyler Ryan, Eddie Nash, Edgar Ochoa, Ty Boice, Alex McIntire, Weston Hedin, Chris Grifo, Emily Bylin, Bettie Allen Wilde and Mary Long. LINK TO FILM
"High Note" was filmed mostly on San Juan Island. The crew used a drone to capture a shot that starts with two people sitting on top of Mount Grant and expands to show the incredible surroundings.
The film created by four Friday Harbor siblings - Jacob, David, Jenny, and Amy Gustafson (their mom is Mary Long) - won several awards at a Las Vegas Film Festival.
The film synopsis: Best friends Cliff and Otis plan to get rich quick by stealing from some of the most dangerous foes in the business: drug dealers. Going against the plan, the two spend the night partying, allowing the audience to see that, in a certain light, the 'bad guys' weren't really all that bad to begin with. Simply put, this film is just your everyday druggie, dramedy, indie musical that's filled to the brim with Germans, Jesus, bongos, beers, and bongs.
The brothers explain the thoughts behind the project on their website. "We want to convey to the audience that certain vices like drinking, smoking, and drug use affect all of us, especially so for the people in our family. We have always felt that shying away from the subject of addiction never really accomplishes much, so our story focuses on how these characters came into their “druggie” situations by going through each one of their backstories. We want to show the audience that the lines between Good and Evil, or more importantly between moral and immoral, blur heavily within each and every one of us. Our goal isn't to exploit the use of drugs. Our goal is to tell a story that we think millions of people have gone through. The only difference is that we want to tell it through song and dance!"
The film features actors from San Juan Island and Seattle. The brothers co-authored the script. Jacob, who was a film student at UC Santa Cruz is the producer. David is the director. Carl, a graduate of Seattle Film School, is the director of photography. Amy and Jacob edited the film.
Amy is the production coordinator and Jenny is the assistant producer/art director.