Spring, Clay, and Elio are a family of three on a summer camping trip to the Oregon coast, where jarring rock formations cut across the horizon. In search of inspiration for a new project, filmmaker Spring takes pictures of the landscape and uses her volatile husband and defiant young son as reluctant props. Otherwise she experiences her family as an unwelcome interruption to her creative process. On the final day of their trip, a harrowing moment between father and son shatters Spring’s illusions and brings her competing desires to be a good mother and visionary artist to a head.

Moving between deadpan realism, unexpected humor and quiet devastation, Why Dig When You Can Pluck challenges norms around motherhood and art-making while exploring themes of trust, violence, and love.

Watch this program in person at NWFF, Sep. 28 at 4:30pm. VIRTUAL, IN-PERSON, and HYBRID (virtual AND in-person) Festival Passes and Individual Tickets are available!