Little Brown Bird
Little Brown Bird
Poster courtesy of Bait Studio.
Little Brown Bird is an ambitious short film written and directed by Pete Rogers. This is ESM's first fiction project and a co-production with BAFTA Cymru nominated company Focus Shift Films, with funding from the Isle of Man Arts Council. The film stars John Rhys Davies (Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings) and Eliza Butterworth (The Last Kingdom, A Town Called Malice).
Premise
On the shortest day of the year, an overworked farmer must care for her father who is living with dementia, as he becomes increasingly convinced something is hunting them.
Little Brown Bird is an emotionally driven story about the bond between Kate and her Dad. The true horror in the story is the tragedy of her Father’s condition, getting to see only glimpses of the person she loves and with no respite as his permanent carer.
Kate is on the verge of breaking down at any moment, all her time is spent looking after Dad or running the farm singlehandedly, but her resilience is born from her love for her father. The struggle is heightened by the genre elements of the story, but the continuous cycle she goes through is one real carer’s face too. Kate has lost her sense of self, as she tries to hold it together and keep her Father safe...
Little Brown Bird was shot in a way that mirrors the claustrophobic nature of Kate’s life.
The short film mixes the emotional vulnerability and social realism of a Mike Leigh kitchen sink drama with the brooding intensity and sense of foreboding of A24 Films’ elevated horror movies (The Witch, Hereditary). Tonally, Little Brown Bird is bleak and unsettling, but with an inspirational strong female lead to root for and a familial bond at its heart. The themes of the film are family, duty, and sacrifice.
Little Brown Bird is currently on the festival circuit.
Check out the trailer below:
P.S. It wouldn’t be us without a bit of BTS, so here’s a closer look at the filming process.