Dakota Pailes-Friedman is a filmmaker based in New York City, where he was born and raised. For the last eight years, Dakota worked exclusively within a duo writer/director relationship with his brother, creating a large body of short films and writing many feature projects. Their films have played a host of festivals, including International Film Festival Rotterdam, Cork International Film Festival, Dublin International Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, and many others. Now, Dakota is branching out into a solo career. He is looking to make his debut feature, A Desire to Sink, in 2023-2024, while simultaneously writing his second feature, The Soft Blur of Memory. Additionally, Dakota has been owning/running 56 Bones, a boutique post house that has been operating in New York City since 2015. At 56 Bones, Dakota serves as the head post-producer and lead offline editor on a variety of narrative and commercial projects.

A Desire to Sink — Ray’s lifelong best friend, Trevor, decides that he finds their codependence volatile and chooses to distance himself. In the unfillable void that Trevor leaves behind, Ray struggles to understand his purpose as he navigates life without him.