Appalling Nature (Erin in Snow), 2020
Single-channel HD Video, Hand-drawn Animation, Found Footage
9’23”
Featuring Erin Nixon
Narrated by Richard Smart & Emilie Crewe
Erin is on her way home after a long day’s work. She follows the elongated shadows of barren trees as she struggles to find her way, battling her own inner voice. Unsure if she is being hunted, her thoughts align with a nearby doe, whose instincts are sparked by carnal awareness.
An array of household pets serve as counterparts to the protagonist’s own sense of captivity. Like Erin, they are unintentional prisoners. They are her unforeseen spirit guides; animal totems of her everyday stresses.
An array of household pets serve as counterparts to the protagonist’s own sense of captivity. Like Erin, they are unintentional prisoners. They are her unforeseen spirit guides; animal totems of her everyday stresses.
A thoughtful meditation on anxiety and uncertainty, Appalling Nature is a journey through mental suffering and winter landscapes.
* * * *
I often find myself thinking about schools when watching experimental film programs. Sometimes, I’m wondering whether one filmmaker studied with another, as I did while watching Emilie Crewe’s APPALLING NATURE (2020, 9 min), a droll but disturbing storybook about human-animal encounters in the great outdoors. Replete with critters, bursts of animation, and heightened anxiety, I saw a connection to the work of Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby; turns Crewe graduated from the same college as her fellow Canucks, albeit a decade later. Perhaps there’s always been something psychotropic in the water at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University? - Michael Metzger; Cine-File: Chicago Guide to Independent and Underground Cinema
* Appalling Nature has been screened at the 27th Chicago Underground Film Festival (2020) and as part of Another Experiment by Women (Curated by Lili White) through New Filmmakers NY in New York, NY, USA (2020)