Little Forest Lessons
2022 · 6m · UK
Directed by Alissa Autschbach
Genres: drama, horror, thriller
Tones: contemplative, dark, tense
During a forest walk, a young girl discovers a dying bird, and her father's lesson about life and death leads to his own undoing.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The premise reads like a greeting-card moment—dead bird, life lesson, twist ending—but Autschbach subverts the sentimental trap by letting the horror creep in sideways, which is either genius or a misfire depending on your tolerance for indie horror pastiche.
A formally composed meditation on mortality that situates itself in the Lynchian tradition of suburban dread, though the execution occasionally strains against the weight of its own atmospheric ambitions.
The film turns entirely on a single production choice—the sound design or the editing rhythm in the father's monologue—that either lands the tonal shift or doesn't, and when it works, it's the kind of economical storytelling that justifies the whole thing on a shoestring budget.
Festivals
- Bright International Film Festival 2022