Cusp literally starts out with a bang, where, in a seemingly tranquil meadow bathed in magic-hour light, a kid in his late teens in NRA country fires off several rounds from an assault rifle. But Cusp is not about that boy, it’s about the underage teenage girls he and his buddies are trying to impress.
Recently acquired by Showtime Documentary Films, Cusp focuses on three adolescents, Aaloni, Autumn and Brittney, roughly 16 years old, during the waning days of summer in a rural Texas town. Their main pastimes are boys, booze and blunts. In this context, questions of sexual consent become murky and the phrase “no means go” barely raises eyebrows. Their surroundings appear both pastoral and bleak, and free-floating anxiety seems to hang in the air like cigarette smoke.
Filmmakers Bethencourt and Hill — both photographers making their feature directorial debut — met the girls by chance on a road trip and embedded themselves in their lives, capturing them at their most emboldened and vulnerable. “We gained mutual trust through time, genuine curiosity and, most of all, bonding over our shared experiences of girlhood,” explain Bethencourt and Hill, in an email.
Honesty and candor prevail, given that it was a crew of two, with one shooting while the other recorded sound, trading duties as need be, using mostly natural light and a minimal filmmaker presence. “We wanted it to feel like it was all from their world,” they said, “so we leaned in to what was already available.”
Accolades U.S. Documentary Special Award for Emerging Filmmaker, Sundance 2021
Reps Hayley Hashemi, WME; Jennifer Levine, Untitled Entertainment
Inspiration “We were especially drawn to [photographers] who have captured girlhood and scenes in interesting and distinct ways, like Melissa Ann Pinney, Lauren Greenfield, Justine Kurland, Nan Goldin and so many others.”
What’s next Both filmmakers are working on separate narrative projects. — STEVE CHAGOLLAN
