The Woods is a 2011 film written and directed by Matthew Lessner and starring Toby David and Justin Phillips. The script was written by Lessner with contributing writer Adam Mortemore, and additional dialogue by David and Phillips.
The film was co-produced by Lessner, Jett Steiger and Max Knies, and made history as the first film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival that used Kickstarter for production financing. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The Woods premiered in New York at the BAMcinemaFest held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The Woods premiered internationally at the Cologne Conference in Cologne, Germany.
A group of young Americans, disillusioned by the world's many problems, move to the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with hopes of creating their own utopian society. Despite their idealistic goals of revolution, the group comes ill-prepared for their new life, bringing a wide assortment of consumer electronics, recreational vehicles and snack foods. After catastrophic events in the outside world sever their electricity and Wi-Fi, and their leader's once-inspiring rhetoric fails to hold them together, the group is forced to find a way to live in harmony with the natural world.
The film was filmed over 30 days in Oregon. To make the film, the director and cast lived in a tent-city in the forest.
The film features songs by