Mare's Nest

synopsis

Ben Rivers has made another film about the end of civilization as we know it. This time, it is loosely based on Don DeLillo's one-act play The Word for Snow. While DeLillo does not specify the age of the characters, Rivers' characters are children. All adults have been wiped out as a result of an unspecified catastrophe. Nine-year-old Moon travels through this dystopian landscape. Her mystical odyssey unfolds in impressionistic images captured in colour and black-and-white 16mm format. But Rivers doesn't just talk about survival, planetary crisis, and the limits of language. He also reflects on whether, as a society, we still have enough (childlike) imagination to imagine a new beginning and a better world.

“I was trying to strike a balance between a very disturbing situation and a more hopeful one.” — Ben Rivers

biography

Ben Rivers (born 1972) is a British artist and experimental filmmaker working at the intersection of fiction and documentary. He has made dozens of films that have been screened at film festivals and galleries around the world. His first feature film, Two Years at Sea (2011), won the FIPRESCI Prize in Venice.

film details

director:	Ben Rivers
producer:	Aonan Yang, Andreas Mendritzki, Fabrizio Polpettini, François Bonenfant, Ben Rivers, Andrea Queralt
script:	Ben Rivers
photography:	Ben Rivers, Carmen Pellon
editing:	Armiliah Aripin, Ben Rivers
sound:	Dana Farzanehpour, Philippe Ciompi, Ben Rivers, Philippe Ciompi
art director:	Louis Gibson