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Nest film image, director James Hunter

Canadian Premiere

An isolated father haunted by his child’s cries of hunger takes up work as a timber feller, only to find operations halted by a mysterious alarm coming from deep in the woods. This is a cautionary tale about a man just trying to provide for his family, and nature coming up with inventive ways of protection against man’s ruthless invasion. Featuring stunning cinematography, Nest is a demonstration of extreme precision, a masterclass of pace and tone, featuring images that work on almost microscopic levels. It is an elegant, black and white, almost haunting tale about the choices we as humans have made that have severely impacted our world, while showing us a relentlessly difficult life in close-up detail.

 

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Lasarus Ratuere, Ana Nguyen, Kevin Ryan, Robbie Durrant, Marcus Davila

Credits
Country of Origin

Australia

Year

2021

Language

English

Film Contact
9 min

Featured in:

Mumu film image

International Shorts: Family Ties

The bonds of family form the basis of this program of short films. Bonds with history and responsibility—sometimes close, sometimes strained—now and for the future.

 

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Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Agent of Happiness

Dir. Arun Bhattarai & Dorottya Zurbó
94 min

In the Kingdom of Bhutan, the government makes a point of asking citizens about their level of contentment. This droll, poetical doc follows census-taker Amber as he takes villagers through the 148-question survey and contemplates his own life too.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

Bird

Dir. Andrea Arnold
119 min

In Andrea Arnold's latest, 12-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) lives in a squat near the English seaside. Neglected by her chaotic father (Barry Keoghan), she pursues an adventure with a magnetic stranger named Bird (Franz Rogowski).

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines

Dir. Ryan Mah & Danny Berish
80 min

This new documentary offers the most complete account so far of the life and work of Canada's greatest architect, the man responsible for several of the finest buildings in Vancouver -- including the Museum of Anthropology and the SFU Campus.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

Black Box Diaries

Dir. Shiori Ito
104 min

A first person true crime story, Shiori Ito's Black Box Dairies chronicles her long, difficult campaign to hold a veteran journalist (a friend of the Prime Minister) to account for rape.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Feven Kidane Quartet: Music Inspired by the Film Soundtrack to a Coup D'Etat + Film Screening

Dir. Johan Grimonprez
161 min

Trumpeter Feven Kidane, with Quincy Mayes on keys, Bernie Arai on drums, and Milo Johnson on bass, present a special set of original music inspired by Johan Grimonprez's brilliant essay film on the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, Jazz, and the Cold War.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

Ghost Cat Anzu

Dir. Yôko Kuno & Nobuhiro Yamashita
94 min

When fifth grader Karin is deposited with her grandfather for the summer she takes out her unhappiness on his giant talking cat, Anzu -- who looks out for her even so. This wildly original anime riffs on Spirited Away with pleasing irreverence. Rated: PG.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

Credits

Producer

Faith Guoga

Screenwriter

Steve Anthopoulos

Cinematography

Campbell Brown

Editor

James Hunter, Shannon Michaelas

Production Design

Laura Murray

Original Music

Mitchell Sloan

Director

James Hunter headshot, Nest director

James Hunter

A multi-award winning director of shorts, commercials, and music videos, James Hunter grew up in Canberra, Australia. After being gifted his first video camera as a child, he began to experiment and make his own films using family and friends as cast and crew, while utilizing his small town as a backdrop. As a teenager, he moved to Sydney to study the screen arts, picking up many of the notable local and national awards for his short films over the following decade. He has since relocated to Melbourne, Australia, where he has been developing feature film projects.