Searching for the Elephant

David Alford and Joseph Stam sat before a blank page with an ambitious goal: to craft a screenplay that wouldn’t just entertain—but transform. What emerged was not your typical feel-good Hallmark ending. Instead, the script—and ultimately the film—confronts viewers with the raw cost of broken trust and fractured relationships, balanced by the flickering hope of genuine change.

At the heart of the story is a gruff, curmudgeonly grandfather unexpectedly saddled with his troubled grandson. The young man, on parole and wearing an ankle monitor, is the antithesis of a houseguest. Their forced cohabitation sends both characters into unfamiliar territory, forging a volatile but deeply human relationship.

The script doesn’t take shortcuts. It doesn’t offer tidy resolutions or parody tropes. Instead, it leans hard into authent ...