THE FILM
The Sterling sisters and their once close-knit group of friends reunite for a weekend at the family ranch in small town Texas before it’s sold. Long simmering conflicts come to a head as they confront the uncertainty of their lives without the connection of home to bind each other.
Ranch Water follows three sisters in small town Texas as they return to their family’s ranch for one last weekend. The sisters-only weekend quickly expands to a family and friends gathering while each sister tries to make their version of this last hurrah happen. The oldest wants to collect her belongings and go, the middle sister wants to party with her people, and the baby wants to sit around and talk about how much this land means to each of them without any drama. The only thing for sure is that last one is never going to happen.
Throughout Ranch Water the sisters and their friends flirt with their ideas of adulthood, as well as each other. Just when everyone thinks they’ve outgrown the fights, the gossiping, and the drinking games, they’re all back in the same house they were in as children and revert back to their younger, chaotic selves.
THE FACTS
Shooting a feature film
in the middle of a pandemic.
Should be a breeze right?
The idea for Ranch Water began on a visit to Texas in Summer 2020. Admiring the natural beauty of ranch life, Chris and Aubrey got thinking about ways to utilize the landscape to create art and provide opportunity for artists during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
They called up Sophie and the three of them worked together to create an original film that felt authentic to Texas. Aubrey returned to her hometown, Chris returned to the home of his favorite college football team, and Sophie returned to the land of her alma mater, and they got to work on what would become Ranch Water.
The Ranch Water cast and crew safely came from all over the country to work on this passion project. Together, all 17 of them lived and worked on set in Smithville for the duration of the 15-day shoot. Many long days of shooting were followed by group dinners cooked by the cast and crew themselves creating an environment overflowing with joy, love, passion, and creativity; something that seemed almost impossible during this moment in history.
This once-in-a-lifetime experience fulfilled a cavity of creation amidst the pandemic for the Ranch Water team, both in front of and behind the camera, and they could not be more excited share it with an audience.