In his British Independent Film Awards-nominated short Flock, writer/director Mac Nixon – from homegrown production company Coup the Duke and one of nine directors commissioned as part of the BFI and Film4 backed Future Takes – the bucolic Welsh landscape is stripped of its colour and archetypal quaintness and reborn in gripping, stark, theatrical black and white. This is not the picture postcard Wales of rolling green hills, but a community gripped by a bizarre siege. When a mysterious blight claims every local flock except for one, the lone shepherd who remains untouched becomes the target of his neighbours’ spiralling fear and anger. A sensory, atmospheric triumph from a clear directorial voice, the film sees the lush white of spilt milk become a visceral motif, while tension is orchestrated through screeching violins and heightened performances, recalling the pitchfork-wielding dread of classic Hollywood horror. As part of our annual focus on the BIFA-nominated filmmakers, Directors Notes is thrilled to showcase the exceptional talent recognised this year in the Best British Short category, with Nixon’s Flock—a film we previously highlighted in our top picks from the London Film Festival—a definitive example of the bold, auteur-driven work BIFA champions. In our interview, we dig into how Nixon and his team weaponised monochrome not just as a style but as a narrative tool to challenge stereotypes and build a timeless world. We also discuss the meticulous construction of the film’s rapid and harrowing escalation and the deliberate use of the Welsh language as a tool of division and defiance.
It’s hard. Filmmaking it beats you to a pulp and it doesn’t give you any apologies afterwards.
Most Popular
