Thanks to the generosity of part-time islanders and enthusiastic film festival supporters Suzy Mygatt Wakefield and Jay Wakefield, all films entered in the Student Film Competition are available FREE for everyone to screen. The Wakefield’s want to introduce students to the art of filmmaking by viewing their peers’ work, while also encouraging family viewing of thoughtful documentary programming, and inspiring interest in the films FHFF offers.
In an objective landscape of stretching trees and wild nature deep within the Southeast American woods, STOMACH OF THE EARTH focuses on two climate refugees surviving separately, with civilization in the rearview mirror. One a nomadic hunter, trudging her way through miles of nature-reclaimed woods, just looking for the next meal. The other, a settled forager who finds comfort in the past ideals of academia, documenting his every thought as the hopeful record of this time for future generations.
Filmed entirely in NYC parks with a zero-waste set, Stomach of the Earth is a story about relationships, loneliness, survival, and the shared connection to Earth. Birthed from literature on animal ethics and the Anthropocene, this film assumes the climate catastrophe as a past event, focusing on what happens to humanity when left unguided and desperate, hoisted from our spot at the tippy-top of the food chain. A major goal of this film is to take the things that make us feel superior to animals (ie. art, philosophy, clothing, industry, and language), and cast them into an all-too-real exile.
About the Director
Raised in the Silicon Valley yet cutting their teeth in the NYC indie film scene, Maxfield Biggs has been making short films since the age of 9, and is working as a freelance filmmaker through Stranded Astronaut Productions. With a penchant for the absurd, and story ideas based in realist subjects like climate change or anti-capitalism, Max tries to find the gradient between the two forces in their filmmaking.
Director's Statement
This short film is an attempt to imagine a time after humankind, with nature allowed to thrive and grow un-poisoned. In an objective landscape of uncaring trees and reclaimed nature, the last few creatures that remember the past will rage against their own mortality to be remembered, and survive.
The idea for this film stemmed from a personal exploration into animal ethics, environmental ethics, and anthropocentrism. In developing this upcoming short, Tsing's "Mushroom At The End Of The World", the films of Bong Joon Ho and Agnes Varda, and "Unbroken Chain" by The Grateful Dead served as artistic inspirations. The biggest influence, however, was my long standing connection to nature and an appreciation of its inhabitants.
Stranded Astronaut Productions, 2020
All Rights Reserved
- Year2020
- Runtime13 minutes
- DirectorMaxfield Biggs
Thanks to the generosity of part-time islanders and enthusiastic film festival supporters Suzy Mygatt Wakefield and Jay Wakefield, all films entered in the Student Film Competition are available FREE for everyone to screen. The Wakefield’s want to introduce students to the art of filmmaking by viewing their peers’ work, while also encouraging family viewing of thoughtful documentary programming, and inspiring interest in the films FHFF offers.
In an objective landscape of stretching trees and wild nature deep within the Southeast American woods, STOMACH OF THE EARTH focuses on two climate refugees surviving separately, with civilization in the rearview mirror. One a nomadic hunter, trudging her way through miles of nature-reclaimed woods, just looking for the next meal. The other, a settled forager who finds comfort in the past ideals of academia, documenting his every thought as the hopeful record of this time for future generations.
Filmed entirely in NYC parks with a zero-waste set, Stomach of the Earth is a story about relationships, loneliness, survival, and the shared connection to Earth. Birthed from literature on animal ethics and the Anthropocene, this film assumes the climate catastrophe as a past event, focusing on what happens to humanity when left unguided and desperate, hoisted from our spot at the tippy-top of the food chain. A major goal of this film is to take the things that make us feel superior to animals (ie. art, philosophy, clothing, industry, and language), and cast them into an all-too-real exile.
About the Director
Raised in the Silicon Valley yet cutting their teeth in the NYC indie film scene, Maxfield Biggs has been making short films since the age of 9, and is working as a freelance filmmaker through Stranded Astronaut Productions. With a penchant for the absurd, and story ideas based in realist subjects like climate change or anti-capitalism, Max tries to find the gradient between the two forces in their filmmaking.
Director's Statement
This short film is an attempt to imagine a time after humankind, with nature allowed to thrive and grow un-poisoned. In an objective landscape of uncaring trees and reclaimed nature, the last few creatures that remember the past will rage against their own mortality to be remembered, and survive.
The idea for this film stemmed from a personal exploration into animal ethics, environmental ethics, and anthropocentrism. In developing this upcoming short, Tsing's "Mushroom At The End Of The World", the films of Bong Joon Ho and Agnes Varda, and "Unbroken Chain" by The Grateful Dead served as artistic inspirations. The biggest influence, however, was my long standing connection to nature and an appreciation of its inhabitants.
Stranded Astronaut Productions, 2020
All Rights Reserved
- Year2020
- Runtime13 minutes
- DirectorMaxfield Biggs