Project Status
ALL DAY IS A LONG TIME is a short film slated to enter production in early November, with shooting set to take place on location in the Florida Gulf Coast.
Logline
Fighting the delirium of early sobriety, a Florida teenager dodges his probation officer in an effort to get high one last time. Adapted from the novel by David Sanchez.
Director’s Statement
ALL DAY IS A LONG TIME follows David, a wayward 18-year-old who is thrashing through the throes of early sobriety in the sun-blasted Gulf Coast of Florida. But David is not just an addict, and in telling his story I hope to subvert and reconfigure the expectations of the traditional addiction narrative. In both reading the original novel and devising this cinematic adaptation, I am compelled by two questions: what if the most delirious drug is sobriety itself, and what if the addictive impulse can only be integrated through encounters with the sublime?
Narratively and formally, this film will explore the intersection between the bodily compulsion of addiction and the divine immanence of nature; the searing velocity of desire colliding with the plenitude of the scorching South. This is a world of green flashes and dense kudzu, a place where the heat is the prevailing fact of life. And it is through these repeated encounters with nature that David becomes nudged out of his stupor.
David is also becoming a reader, drawn to The Sound and the Fury first by circumstance and later by the urge for meaning-making. David soberly witnesses the dizzying movement of his mind, and by merging his subjective authority with the book’s fragmented consciousness, we will find the addict renewed. David is not a prisoner to his vulgar urges, but rather the keeper of a vital interiority in search of an endpoint—a salvation that finally arrives in the sublime overlap between nature and literature.
Meet the Filmmakers
Alek Abate
Bill Kirstein – Director of Photography
David Sanchez – Original Author
Alek Abate is a filmmaker originally from Jacksonville, Florida, and currently based in New York City. He graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Philosophy from Dartmouth College, and is presently pursuing an MFA in Screenwriting and Directing at Columbia University. Prior to Columbia, he worked as a middle school English teacher, community o
Alek Abate is a filmmaker originally from Jacksonville, Florida, and currently based in New York City. He graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Philosophy from Dartmouth College, and is presently pursuing an MFA in Screenwriting and Directing at Columbia University. Prior to Columbia, he worked as a middle school English teacher, community organizer, legal policy analyst, and vegan activist. In his writing and directing work, he focuses on outsider perspectives and the collision between high and low culture. His work has been supported by the 2025 Indian Paintbrush Production Grant.
David Sanchez – Original Author
Bill Kirstein – Director of Photography
David Sanchez – Original Author
David Sanchez is a writer from Tampa, Florida. He has been awarded a PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship, a James A. Michener Creative Writing Fellowship at the University of Miami, and a 2018 Tin House Scholarship. His debut novel, All Day is a Long Time, was released by HarperCollins in 2022.
Bill Kirstein – Director of Photography
Bill Kirstein – Director of Photography
Bill Kirstein – Director of Photography
Bill Kirstein is an award-winning cinematographer based in New York. With more than a decade of experience lensing narrative, documentary, and commercial films all over the world, Bill has collaborated with some of the biggest artists including Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, Tina Fey, Jon Hamm, Justin Timberlake, Rene Rapp, Maya Hawke, Zoe Sa
Bill Kirstein is an award-winning cinematographer based in New York. With more than a decade of experience lensing narrative, documentary, and commercial films all over the world, Bill has collaborated with some of the biggest artists including Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, Tina Fey, Jon Hamm, Justin Timberlake, Rene Rapp, Maya Hawke, Zoe Saldana, Alicia Keys, Pharrell, Usher, John Legend, and Adele, and his work has competed and screened at all the top festivals, including Venice, Cannes, Tribeca, and New York, among others. He was selected as a Rising Star of Cinematography by American Cinematographer in 2024. His latest narrative feature is Neo Sora’s Happyend, which premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. Other recent credits include Mean Girls (2024) for Paramount, with directors Samantha Jayne & Arturo Perez Jr., and Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus with Neo Sora, which debuted at La Biennale di Venezia 2023.
Fayza Shammin – Producer
Sushant Chaudhary – Editor
Fayza Shammin – Producer
Fayza Shammin is an Asian-American producer from Oberlin, Ohio. She received her B.A. as a double major in Film and Media Culture and Psychology from Middlebury College in Vermont prior to attending film school. Fayza is currently pursuing her MFA at Columbia University in Creative Producing while also interning in post-production at Company 3.
Max Cea – Producer
Sushant Chaudhary – Editor
Fayza Shammin – Producer
Max Cea is a filmmaker, writer, and producer. He produced the upcoming feature film The Big Game. His writing and cultural criticism have appeared in Billboard, Esquire, Grantland, GQ, The New York Times, New York Magazine, and SPIN. He publishes the weekly indie film newsletter Nothing Bogus.
Sushant Chaudhary – Editor
Sushant Chaudhary – Editor
Sushant Chaudhary – Editor
Sushant Chaudhary is an Indian film editor based in Los Angeles by way of New York, where he completed his MFA in Directing at Columbia University. A lifelong music aficionado, Sushant supported the cutting room for the documentary feature It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley, which premiered at Sundance 2025, as well as This is a film about T
Sushant Chaudhary is an Indian film editor based in Los Angeles by way of New York, where he completed his MFA in Directing at Columbia University. A lifelong music aficionado, Sushant supported the cutting room for the documentary feature It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley, which premiered at Sundance 2025, as well as This is a film about The Black Keys, which opened at SXSW 2024. Other credits include episodic documentary programs that have aired on ABC, PBS, and Hulu. His short-form work has screened at festivals in Atlanta, Berlin, Lebu, Miami, Montreal, Munich, Stockholm, and elsewhere. Sushant is a J.N. Tata Scholar and a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.