Directors statement

With Bite I’m definitely asking more questions than I’m attempting to answer. Through Billy and his father Kev, I’m trying to explore the tension between fate vs free will; to what extent our origins shape who we eventually become. The film is a study into the cycle of trauma; how definitive it is, how inevitable it feels, how it sinks in its teeth and refuses to let go.

Hurt people hurt people. In this context, where does free will fit? What does moral choice look like when so much of who we are has been carved by what we’ve lived through? I leave the answers open to interpretation, but I personally believe that escaping the environment that shaped you is far more difficult than we like to admit. 

This isn’t a justification, choice still exists. But the terrain of choice can be incredibly complex, and I think there is real room for empathy. It’s easy to label someone a “bad” person or a “bad” dog, but the simple truth is that some people’s lives are much harder than others. If we were to watch a film about Kev’s own childhood, I am certain we would feel very differently towards him.

I don’t believe in bad people. I believe there are people who do bad things, and that such people tend to be in some terrible kind of pain. Bite is my attempt to sit in the uncomfortable place where accountability and compassion collide.