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
Lasarus Ratuere, Ana Nguyen, Kevin Ryan, Robbie Durrant, Marcus Davila
Australia
2021
English
Featured in:
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.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Holdovers
Destined to become a seasonal staple, this bittersweet comedy reunites Sideways director and star Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti in the portrait of a surly classics teacher forced to babysit five "orphans" at boarding school over the holidays.
Who by Fire
Jeff, a 17-year-old aspiring filmmaker, goes on vacation with his friend Max and his family to an isolated lodge. Philippe Lesage’s film is a tense, mesmerizing tour de force that is both agonizing and cathartic. A Berlinale award winner.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Aardman Animation's handcrafted mix of dad jokes, slapstick, mock dramatics and understated emotion makes this return for the claymation odd couple a constant delight. The villainous Feathers McGraw is back to no good, commandeering Norbot the robot. Rated: G
Gremlins (40th Anniversary)
The perfect last minute Xmas gift: give your special someone a cute ball of fur and don't worry about where it came from. Just don't put it under bright lights, don't get it wet, and whatever you do, please, please don't feed it after midnight... Rated: PG
Image: © 1984 WBEI
The Count of Monte Cristo
You can't beat this evergreen Alexandre Dumas tale for adventure, intrigue and romance. This lavish French blockbuster from the writers of the recent Three Musketeers movies pulls you in from the first scene and doesn't let off for the next three hours. Rated: PG
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
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.