Ripples is a poignant, thought-provoking short film that features and is narrated by Douglas Spale, a Black man adopted into a loving family from Nebraska. The story immediately departs from the typical cast and themes of the hunting genre and presents the audience with Douglas’s progressive tale marked by the lives of each of his devoted Labradors, interspersed with the positive ideals preached by his parents. While hunting serves as an important pillar, it is clear that Douglas’s relationship with his father is built around offering more to the world than just their passion for Labs.  

 Fortune and coincidence seem to intersect following a request from the film’s producer Erik Peterson, as he searches for a role-model within the hunting community for his own adopted son Kasa. While serendipity plays its role, Douglas and his father travel west to meet the almost mirror-image pair of Erik and Kasa. Throughout their time in Montana, the group’s lives become intertwined as they embark on a journey of discovery and mentorship amid big sky country. The underlying premise of the ripple effect permeates each phase of the production. Ultimately, this captivating and emotional story displays the vulnerability of its characters, but also highlights positivity as a catalyst to their growing kinship.