Ben Rivers — Mare's Nest (film still)
Mare's Nest
"I wanted to create a world of kids with underlying uncertainty,
echoing global anxieties, while somehow also being hopeful.
I didn't want any relation to the adult world, and no explanation as to why."
Ben Rivers
Ben Rivers' Mare's Nest is a surreal, post-apocalyptic film following a young girl, Moon, in a world devoid of adults. As she roams through uncanny landscapes, she encounters a turtle, a minotaur, and other children; all figures showing her different possibilities for living. Through dreamlike vignettes shot on 16mm film, the film blends fiction, documentary, and fable with influences from Don DeLillo's play The Word for Snow. Childlike curiosity is balanced with deep philosophical reflections, in which the power of language, imagination, and play serves as a source of hope in the face of an unknown future.
2025; 98 min. film, DCP 2K, colour / black and white, Dialogues in Catalan and English, English subtitles
Ben Rivers
Ben Rivers is an artist and filmmaker based in London, England. He has made around 40 short and feature length films which tread a fine line between documentary and fiction, and often focusing on people who have separated themselves from mainstream society. Rivers won the second EYE Art Film Prize in 2016, as well as FIPRESCI Prize at the 68th Venice for his first feature film Two Years at Sea. He recently had a full retrospective at Jeu de Paume in Paris. In 2019, he collaborated with Thai auteur Anocha Suwichakornpong on Krabi, 2562, which was the opening film for Moving Ahead section at Locarno. His last feature film Bogancloch premiered in the main competition at Locarno, and won Second Prize for Best Feature Film at Festival dei Popoli and Prix Nouvelles Vagues at Festival International du Film de La Roche-sur-Yon. In 2023, STUK presented Ben Rivers’ first solo exhibition in Belgium. In It’s About Time, Rivers shared his fascination with time through four recent film installations: Now, at Last! (2018), Ghost Strata (2019), Ijen/London (2022) and The Minotaur (2022).
