MARE’S NEST is a thrilling cinematic journey into a post-apocalyptic utopia that celebrates the boundless wisdom and imagination of children. Inspired in part by Don DeLillo’s one-act play “The Word for Snow”, it unfolds as a series of epiphanies rather than a linear narrative.

Moon is our fearless guide. She survives a car crash unscathed, walks along a deserted road and engages a tortoise in a dialogue on evolution. With serene detachment, she roams through sublime yet desolate vistas, where the rusting remnants of the industrial age surface, following an invisible path and exchanging ideas with those she meets. Children in rags – grimy, earnest, wise and free from rules – cross her path, living in joyful anarchy.

Ben Rivers studied fine art at Falmouth University in England. His practice as a filmmaker treads a line between documentary and fiction. Often following and filming people who have in some way separated themselves from society, the raw film footage provides him with a starting point for creating oblique narratives imagining alternative existences in marginal worlds. He often employs analogue media and hand develops 16mm film, which shows the evidence of the elements it has been exposed to – the materiality of this medium forming part of the narrative.

Filmography (selection): 2011 TWO YEARS AT SEA, 2013 A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS, 2019 KRABI, 2562, 2024 BOGANCLOCH, 2025 MARE’S NEST

Awards: “Pardo Verde” Award (Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland 2025)