BIRDER
Nate Dushku / United States / 2022 / 90 min.
A bird watcher, Kristian Brooks, invades a nude queer campground on a remote lake in New Hampshire. He wears whatever cover he needs to ensnare the locals in his dark fetish in this nightmarish erotic thriller where consent is deadly.
Queer horror is often lived, and in BIRDER we dip our toes into the darkest truths. The film is a sardonic and disturbing look at what a monster sees when they look in the mirror; an exploration of the consent dynamics of dom/sub space and a metaphor for the traumas the queer community endures at the hands of social entities lacking empathy. BIRDER brings us to the edge of the abyss as our protagonist’s odyssey takes him through a joyful sex-positive community.
[Note: Contains scenes combining sex and murder.]
Preceding the feature film will be the short film:
IMPENETRABLE
Matthias Von Braun (United Kingdom, 2023, 4 min)
A dark, surreal short film, featuring Arthur Griffiths and Lilith Newson.
Filmmaker Biographies
Nate Dushku (aka Nathaniel) is originally from Watertown, Massachusetts. Birder is his narrative film directorial debut. He most recently developed and produced the acclaimed biopic, Mapplethorpe, starring Matt Smith. The film had its world premiere at Tribeca Festival in 2018 winning an Audience Award for Narrative Film and was acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films, followed by awards and distribution worldwide.
Brooke M. Haney is a NYC based Intimacy Choreographer and Coordinator who has worked regionally in the states and internationally in the Philippines, Germany, Kenya and Switzerland. Brooke works in theatre, film, TV and academia, specializing in queer stories. They created The Actor’s Warm Down, edited the book The Intimacy Coordinator’s Guidebook: Specialties for Stage and Screen and were one of the first 50 Intimacy Coordinators in the world that SAG/AFTRA listed as qualified. IG: @brookemhaney www.
