There's a surprising amount of people who go missing each year. Either by getting lost, human trafficked, abducted by aliens (joke), kidnapped, etc... We've had on our to-do list to not only write an unforgettable horror script, but to also write and direct an unforgettable thriller about someone who goes missing. For we find those thrillers some of the most intriguing movies to watch.
On a more non-fiction note, there was a 16-year-old California girl who went missing recently named Kiely Rodni. Very sad. Also what is sad is that since, like this girl named Gabby Petito, she was a cute white girl, the media covered her disappearance quite extensively. Which they sadly would not do if she was brown or black. As the vast majority of women who go missing annually are brown or black and get little to no media coverage, then suddenly the media globs onto one case which is very much an exception to the norm. If you watch the documentary "14 Peaks" about a gentleman named Nirmal Purja who is considered one of the, if not the best climbers in the world, having ascended all 14 eight-thousanders (peaks above 8,000 metres or 26,000 feet) in a record time. He's also Napalese born and in the documentary says at the end after having accomplished the task, "Let's be brutally honest, if this was done by some European or Western climber, the news would be ten times bigger." He's very well respected within the climbing community but because he's brown, he's still quite obscure and very under-appreciated anywhere else. So the case of cute caucasian Kiely Rodni which happened in Northern California, and this got a lot of media attention, also sadly ended with them finding her body two weeks after she had gone missing submerged in her car in a reservoir.
We mention this here for two reasons. Because the small group that actually found her body, after a massive statewide search using thousands of people and hours by state authorities, were actually a small team of guys working on their own called "Adventures with Purpose" who also happen to be documentary filmmakers. They made a short documentary about it, which we are sharing now, but this case is also a bit more relevant to our life personally because although we didn't know, Kiely, we did go to high school with her mother whose name is Lindsey Rodni-Nieman and send our condolences to her and the rest of the family. We were in the same class so a group of my high school buddies and I have actually been following the case since it began.
Here's the 47 minute long documentary on YouTube. They did a good job of documenting their process while being respectful to the material. Not doing it for fame or fortune but actually now having become quite more well known because of their success with this case.
We can personally attest that it's life changing when you're making a documentary, are not sure what's going to happen as you're filming it, then what crescendos not only meets your expectations, but exceeds them - and you got it all on camera. Which not only makes all the previous work more worthwhile but results in what we think is the best possible filmmaking. While we wouldn't call this one cinematic or artistic, and it instead has more of a standard newscast feel, it definitely accomplishes that and is worth a watch as a result. For the end is very good.