Fishbrain
Ori was raised by her grandparents, Imogen and Jeb, in their cottage by the sea under the white cliffs of Dover, until one day Imogen decided she’d had enough and walked into the sea, and now Ori has also had enough of his temper and his rudeness, Jeb refusing to look after himself, in pain and miserable, none of which entitles him to be an ungrateful tyrant treating Ori like an unwanted servant.
Changes coming on the tides, local fish populations migrating to cooler waters while invasive species arrive, the shore is carpeted by dead fish exhibiting symptoms of disease, the man in the biohazard suit collecting samples while ignoring Ori, holding a fish in her bare hands, taking it home and slicing it open to fry and serve up for dinner even as the black toxins seep out.
A short film of the effects of climate change on communities and families, of the cost of inaction and resentment over the past and avoidable mistakes, of the longing for another chance and the sea as it once was, Fishbrain is a body horror of menace and mutation written and directed by Max Vanderspuy with John Henshaw and Chloe Lea as Jeb and Ori, with Karren Winchester in flashback as Imogen, her presence the calm before the storm.
The rolling television news a background drone warning of collapse of fish stocks, food chains and the fishing industry, the decaying house they share is filled with poison as the waters rise, the rot set in as Jeb and Ori tear back layers of carpet and floorboards and their lives, entangled but far from the same, she having begged him to change to better both their lives while he called her selfish for wanting to become more than she is, the patterns of the waves and broken families repeating and the sea keeping its secrets.
Fishbrain premiered at the London Film Festival
