This week’s genre short film is titled Nest and it’s inspired by Australian folklore. In the film, “a timber feller, kept awake by his infant child’s cries of hunger, encounters something perturbing in the woods.”
The movie comes from director James Hunter, and it’s inspired by an Australian folktale about a lyrebird that would halt logging operations by mimicking the sound of a fire alarm.
This short film is shared in collaboration with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we are looking to expose some of the radical indie genre films and shorts that filmmakers are creating.
I included an interview with the director below along with the short.
Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker?
James Hunter is a multi-award winning director based in Melbourne, Australia. His background is in short films, music videos, commercials and he recently branched out into feature filmmaking. He is interested in bold, emotionally resonant, cinematic storytelling.
What inspires you to work within genre cinema and tell these kind of stories?
Genre movies externalise internal abstract ideas and that’s what I love about them.
What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process for this project?
The screenwriting and also the editing.
What are you most proud of with this film?
The way we were able to meet and exceed my high ambitions.
What is a favorite story or moment from the making of the film you’d like to share?
When we were trying to figure out how to do the lyrebird (animatronic, puppet, vfx etc) my producer found the perfect footage of one on her phone. It’s one of the rare cases where our phones listening to us was actually a good thing!
What was your most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film?
Trying to figure out how to make the lyrebird sequence work and the tree felling.
If it did, how did your film change or differ from its original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How has this changed how you’ll approach future projects as a result?
Letting the project marinate in the subconscious for a long time changed the way I will approach all my future projects. I’m a big believer in the most layered and delicious films are the ones that are slow cooked for a long time.
Who were some of your collaborators and actors on the film? How did you start working with each other?
Lasarus Ratuere (Actor) and Campbell Brown (DP) were new collaborators, Steve Anthopoulos (Writer) and Faith Guoga were pre-existing close personal relationships.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received as a filmmaker and what would you like to say to new filmmakers?
The best advice I ever received as a filmmaker is to do it yourself and not wait for anyone to give you permission to make your film. I would like to say the same to new filmmakers and to never give up on your dream. If you believe it will happen, the universe will work with you to make it happen. I have seen many miracles over the years because of my persistence.
What are your plans for your career and what do you hope this film does for it? What kind of stories would you like to tell moving forward?
My plan for my career is to move into feature films – I have just made my debut feature again DIY – but I hope to be working with much bigger budgets and making a sustainable career for myself in the feature film world moving forward.
What is your next project and when can we expect to see it?
The Latcher – my debut feature psychological horror film, it will be finished this year and released next year.
Where can we find more of your work and where can interested parties contact you? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel? Social media handles? !
www.jameshunterfilm.com
Bonus Question #1: What is your all-time favorite film?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Bonus Question #2: What is the film that most inspired you to become a filmmaker and/or had the most influence on your work?
Jurassic Park
