About

Hayes Davis’ Bio

Hayes Davis, future writer-director, graduated with a degree in Digital Filmmaking from NMSU in 2025, with honors. Born in Akron, Ohio, Hayes studied tap dance and ballet, formally, as a child and was an avid reader. Hayes graduated high school in Alamogordo, New Mexico. His love of the arts, books, and movies led him to film school at The College of Santa Fe. There, he produced an episode of an interview program called Cine Café that featured Steven Soderbergh. He also co-wrote and directed a short film called Green Apples. Then, he directed, shot, and edited a verité documentary about his parents: All I Need Is Time deals with the gradual death of his father due to Early-Onset Alzheimer’s and his mother’s struggle to care for him. He also wrote a spec comedy called Nobody’s Perfect, about a woman trying to survive film school, representing a microcosm of Hollywood, and a still unpublished novel called Madness. Madness is a coming-of-age thriller about an interracial relationship. He is the author of short stories and screenplays, as well as an animated series pilot called Imaginary Friend. Hayes was a production assistant on the films The Hi-Lo Country and The Wild, Wild West, as well as commercials. In the future, Hayes looks forward to making independent films in different genres that are well-made, poetic, and accessible.

My Artist Statement

I am a writer-director-editor, motivated by the potential of cinema to move and challenge people. My focus is as a screenwriter and director. I work in different genres. I am most interested in developing or finding projects in the thriller genre. I am not afraid of deconstructing genre if it is to convey or preserve human experiences.

My work is often minimalist, suspenseful, poetic, and satirical. If I write a romantic comedy, there is a need to be subversive about a genre that is too old-fashioned to push the boundaries of gender equality and self-image in relationships.

In film, my greatest role model is Alfred Hitchcock. For a kid growing up in the inner-city, he made film grammar accessible to everyone and explored every aspect of film grammar and visual storytelling. I am also greatly inspired by the work of Akira Kurosawa, whose work is incomparable in the history of artistic endeavors for their vision and creative risk-taking. Rod Serling is the television writer that most inspires me because he pioneered anti-establishment and imaginative television. I love the films of the Shaw Brothers studio. Spike Lee is a great inspiration because it is through him that I learned the value of working as an independent filmmaker, especially as a minority. I learned that being real is being a great filmmaker.

Whenever I sit down to write something or create a video, I hope that my next film is like Todd Haynes’ film Safe. The film is the kind of film I want to make - terse, with relevant psychological allegory, and a character study that supports its very original story. Safe is, in my opinion, deserves mention in the greatest movies lists with The Godfather, Schindler's List, or 2001: A Space Odyssey. It has a supreme artistic vision, but is, like no other film, grounded in an exploration of the human spirit. Todd Haynes is also a tremendous role model. He focuses on the work. He is not a politician who manipulates how a film is received.

Another profound influence on me is the film A Brighter Summer Day, by Taiwanese filmmaker Edward Yang. It is an epic coming-of-age crime drama, about young Taiwanese kids who are emotionally volatile in a simple world. At four hours, it has minimal blocking and sets, but the lyrical and beautiful story, in some ways, mirrors my childhood in the inner-city of Akron, Ohio, where I am from. Being from Alamogordo, New Mexico as well, I find inspiration in the Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas. In my work, I want an emotionally disconnected world to understand the meaning of compassion and mercy.

I also enjoy making people laugh. I do love the spectacle of cinema, at any budget, but if it is not based on a poetic and emotional story, then I avoid it. I want to make movies about real love, not the inauthentic, doting / high-maintenance love in many movies. I want to explore the transcendent power of courage.