Now 39, Donaldson is forging her own path as a filmmaker. Her debut film, “Good One,” is a thoughtful portrait of three New Yorkers on a camping trip: a teenage daughter, her father, and her father’s old friend.

The film, which premieres in Boston on August 16, begins as 17-year-old Sam (Lily Collias) and her father Chris (James Le Gros) prepare for the road trip. Driving upstate, they stop to pick up Chris’ old friend Matt (Danny McCarthy), a camp freshman facing a midlife crisis.

The film takes place over several nights as tensions rise within the trio. While the men lament and reminisce, Sam, the ever-confident peacemaker, takes on the role of group leader, thanklessly taking on the cooking, washing up and empathetic listening duties.

“The character in the film is very personal and based on my own teenage personality,” reflects Donaldson, who has spent the last few months in Portland, Maine. “I liked being praised for being good or smart or whatever. I liked getting positive feedback and sought it from my parents and teachers.”

After college, Donaldson moved to New York and found work in the textile industry. She attributes her interest in fashion to her mother, Mel Clark, who designed a line of hand-knit sweaters and owned a yarn store where Donaldson worked during summers while in high school.

Donaldson stayed in the textile industry for about a decade before returning to filmmaking. At the time, “New York filmmakers were making low-budget indie films – people my age,” she said. “I think jealousy is a very revealing emotion because it can kind of show you what your true desires are. That jealousy led me to write screenplays and eventually make short films.”

Then, when Donaldson was in her mid-30s, the pandemic hit. On a whim, she and her husband moved in with her father and Donaldson’s two younger siblings. Living so close to family was an inspiration for “Good One.”

“I felt like I really needed to make a movie,” she recalls. “So I wrote this movie out of this insane sense of urgency. I wanted to do it in a really intimate way, with a small crew and on a budget. I just wanted to set it up script-wise to be successful – not in the sense that it would necessarily be a good movie, but just try to make something and get it done.”

With such a small ensemble, Donaldson knew that casting was of the utmost importance, especially for the young actress who would play her lead role. The search was arduous until one day Donaldson asked her younger sister if she knew anyone who might be suitable. Miraculously, her sister had been dating a 17-year-old actress just the night before: Collias.

Donaldson met Collias in a cafe and was impressed by her grounded confidence. “She has this incredible ability to express emotions in silence,” she said.

That ability was crucial to bringing Sam to life. The film is “really about her as an observer,” Donaldson said. “She’s often the character who says the least, and I wanted the filmmaking and the camera to convey that listening is a form of participation.”

Although filming didn’t begin until after COVID restrictions were eased, the film’s forest setting still alleviated some of the production stress. The crew moved quickly, using only the available light. They refused to tinker with the shots. And when a stray thunderstorm disrupted their momentum, the team improvised: They set up a tent on the porch of their Airbnb and shot a nighttime scene with Sam and Chris inside.

“That scene wasn’t in the script and is actually just a small excerpt from the film,” she said, “but there’s something about it that feels so essential to me – the closeness and the sweetness of them being able to share a tent.”

This experience of collaborative problem-solving changed Donaldson’s understanding of filmmaking and its power. Directing no longer feels sacrosanct or the product of a single, unwavering vision.

“I had the idea that you always have to know exactly what you want and be able to communicate it precisely,” she said. “And what I learned from making a film is that uncertainty is a powerful tool. It allows you to be more open to collaboration.”

“Good One” premieres at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on August 16, with India Donaldson attending a preview on August 13. For more information, visit coolidge.org/films/good-one.