DREAMING OF CARHARTT
Directed By Tariq Stone | Executive Produced By OpenLight Films
Dreaming of Carhartt is a playful and introspective short film that follows Soren, a wide-eyed dreamer whose obsession with a Carhartt jacket pulls him into a dream world where memory, imagination, and reality intertwine. As Soren loses himself in musical sequences and personal identity, the film becomes both a critique and a celebration of brand culture. At its heart, Dreaming of Carhartt is a love letter to those who chase meaning through the things we wear, and a message about how those desires can shift our daily perspectives about ourselves and the world around us.
Stills from the film
The pitch deck
Before production began, I developed a full pitch deck outlining the creative direction, production strategy, visual references, and brand context for Dreaming of Carhartt. The deck helped communicate the vision clearly and efficiently to potential collaborators and supporters. Open Light Films reviewed the pitch early on and decided to support the project after seeing the concept and our plan to execute it with a focused, small-scale team. The process reinforced the importance of treating passion projects with the same level of professionalism as commercial work.
JOEY THE CAT ARCADE SCREENING
From the first script draft to the night of the screening, we had 80 days. We hosted the event at Joey the Cat, an arcade in San Francisco. It featured a standing-room screening of Dreaming of Carhartt, a Q&A with the team, and time for folks to hang out, play games, and connect.
This version of the film is an early cut. We’re continuing post-production and raising funds to finish the project the right way. The screening was a celebration of the work so far and a launch point for what’s next.
BEHIND THE SCENES
We made this film in 80 days—from first draft to picture lock—with four crazy days of filming. The core crew was about 30 deep, and on arcade day we hit 50 people on set. We shot all over SF—arcades, rooftops, beaches, sidewalks—with no permits and a whole lot of determination. Every day had its own curveballs. Stephen, our DP, was hanging out of a moving car. We were lighting scenes in the street, wrangling extras between takes, and pulling off last-minute location moves like it was normal. It wasn’t. But we made it work.
