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NSCAD alumna Heather Young’s feature Murmur to open the FIN film festival tomorrow

NSCAD alumna and award-winning filmmaker Heather Young’s (NSCAD BFA 2009) debut feature Murmur will open the FIN Atlantic International Film Festival tomorrow night. The feature has already screened to rave reviews at TIFF. To get your ticket for the film, which includes access to the Opening Night Celebration, click here.
More on Murmur

Movie still from the film Murmur - a woman staring at her reflection with her dog in her armsFollowing a DUI charge, sixty-something year-old Donna (Shan MacDonald) is scheduled to perform community service in an animal rescue shelter. Over time, she begins to relate to the abandoned animals that surround her and she forms a particular bond with a senior dog, Charlie, who she brings home to prevent from being euthanized. She then begins rescuing other animals from the shelter and buying them online, until her small apartment is over-run — her unchecked compulsion for connection ultimately causing her home and life to fall into further disarray.

Marking the debut feature of award-winning, Halifax-based filmmaker Heather Young, Murmur captures the quiet, contemplative story of a woman who, grappling with alcohol dependence and loneliness, struggles to find a way to ease the pain. Starring a cast of Nova Scotian non-professional actors, many of whom are playing themselves in the film, Young skillfully crafts an enduring story of aging and the human-animal connection.

More on Heather Young

Heather Young is a filmmaker originally from New Brunswick now living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After graduating from the University of New Brunswick and NSCAD University she made several short films including Green (2013), Howard and Jean (2014) and Fish (2016). Fish played at festivals all over the world including Palm Springs Shortfest, the Vancouver International Film Festival, Vienna Independent Shorts and TIFF Canada’s Top Ten Festival. Her latest short Milk had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (where she also participated in the TIFF Talent Lab), won Best Short Film in the QC/Canada section at Festival du Nouveau Cinema, and played TIFF Canada’s Top Ten, Aspen Shortsfest, the Maryland Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Rhode Island International Film Festival, the London Short Film Festival, and many others.

Read more about Murmur, and Young’s approach to creating this film, here at Point of View Magazine.

(Photos courtesy of Heather Young’s website houseplantfilms.ca and FIN).