Nature's Child

All life is precious, and it should be respected and preserved at all costs... right? In this short film young Autumn makes a magical promise to do no harm, but living up to her word turns out to be trickier (and more terrible) than she could have ever imagined.

Starring Kestrel Burley, Kelly Dugan, Natalie Johnson and Barry Freshour. Original score by David Ben Shannon.

• Winner El Capitan Award, 2009 Yosemite Film Festival.
• Note: the film will be placed online when it has completed the film festival circuit -- look for it mid 2010

Director’s Statement:

Some very old stories follow a certain logic that, in my experience at least, receives short shrift in America’s cultural dialogue.

Between the saccharine morality tale, the gory ghost story, the edgy indie tragedy and the Hollywood happy ending lies an Abyss.

Dark and fantastic creatures lurk in its dreamy depths – waters across which each of us must someday swim. Some old stories provide aids to navigation; markers, buoys and the occasional blood-stained expanse labeled “here lie dragons — beware!”

We trivialize these at our own peril.

Nature’s Child (originally titled Autum’s Folly) is our attempt to tell a new story in the old way. My only hope is that you enjoy viewing it as much as the crew and I enjoyed creating it.

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See us on IMDB

Biographical Information

Actress Kestrel Burley

On top of acting, Kestrel Burley is a filmmaker, artist and also writes poems she calls "songs for emotionally mature teenagers." She comes from Northern England and habitated in Boston and New York before driving to Denver on a whim. She is enjoying the fact that Denver artists are thriving like a bunny colony right now, but is eager to go wherever the more intriguing, meaningful and sustaining roles lure her. She agrees with Michael Chekhov that acting can be a divine creative art form and that human beings at their best are playful and rebellious.

Writer/Director/Editor David Quakenbush

David is a Colorado native. He graduated from Colorado State University with a Philosophy degree in 1996. In the intervening years he has worked in the Graphic Design and New Media industries, owned his own business, and engaged in a number of creative pursuits before he discovered filmmaking. At 36 he is nearing the end of his studies at the Colorado Film School, where he has taken as many classes in as many disciplines as the registrar would allow. His primary goal is for his next production to be more beautiful and emotionally compelling than his last. He lives with his wife and cat in Denver, CO, USA.

Cinematographer Magnus Persson

Magnus Persson is 31 years old and currently a Junior at Colorado Film School. He is studying writing/directing but has a passion for cinematography. He loves movies and filmmaking because it's the combination of all the art forms that he loves, with storytelling at it's heart to bring purpose. Originally from Sweden, Magnus came to the United States when he was twenty. He has traveled extensively, and prior to pursuing a career in film and video production worked as a graphic designer. He currently lives with his wife and daughter in Monument, CO.

Composer David Ben Shannon

David Ben Shannon is an English film composer. He has worked on numerous features and shorts, with filmmakers in both the U.K. and abroad. He also works in theatre, composing music for productions in and around Liverpool. He is a music graduate of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and is based in Merseyside.