Photo courtesy of Marielle Morrow

Dreams are made of 6-foot bird wings, styrofoam, and hot glue sourced from a Czech Home Depot, at least according to senior Marielle Morrow. Her award-winning short film, “A Bird in the Field,” is set to be shown at the St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) Saturday, Nov. 15, at noon. The film centers on an unnamed ornithologist whose research funding gets cut. It highlights the complexities of womanhood, passion, and sacrifice as she cares for a pair of eggs amidst marital and professional instability. 

Morrow produced “A Bird in the Field” last spring alongside senior Cole Bernstein while studying abroad at The Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague. Since its completion, the film has been screened at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase and WashU Film Fest, where it won Best Overall Film. Morrow and Bernstein cannot wait for its screening at SLIFF later this week. 

“I’m really excited. I think it’s very cool that it got accepted to be in this big film festival,” Bernstein said. 

The film was created for an assignment at FAMU, one of the leading international film schools. The film was directed by Morrow, assistant-directed and edited by Bernstein, and co-written by both. Unlike their other projects, though, Morrow and Bernstein were faced with an additional challenge: shooting on film. 

Per one of FAMU’s requirements, all projects must be shot on 16-millimeter film. Unlike shooting on digital, film requires an extra level of planning, as there is only so much footage available. For this project, they had 400 feet of film, roughly equivalent to 30 minutes. Morrow and Bernstein’s final project needed to be 10 minutes. Because of this, the team had to be thoughtful with each shot, accounting for bloopers. They even had an extra member whose job was to keep track of the film remaining.

“When you call out ‘action,’ the vibe is much more serious,” Bernstein explained. “You only have a couple of chances to get it right, or you’re screwed.”

The vision, like many of Morrow’s films, came to her in a dream. 

“A lot of my works, like this one that’s showing in SLIFF, come from visions or dreams that I have,” Morrow explained. “I usually have an idea for a shot that I want to do first, and then I pull meaning from that.”

From there began a long process of writing, storyboarding, and filming, alongside Bernstein. In the drafting process, Morrow listened to the same playlist repeatedly, with songs such as “Change” by Big Thief, and “Carlisle” by Lola Bllue which helped her shape the film’s tone. 

The final step of Morrow’s vision necessitated the construction of a 6-foot pair of wings for one of the shots. They ventured to what Morrow classified as the “Prague version of Home Depot” to buy supplies and stayed up late cutting and gluing the giant pieces of styrofoam and wire.

“It was sad when I had to leave, because I had to just throw them away,” Morrow reminisced. “And they were so beautiful.”

Morrow has always been enchanted by acting. In kindergarten, she starred as the Red Hen in a class play, a role she still considers one of her best. She pursued theater throughout high school, with the goal of becoming a screen actor. When she arrived at WashU, she had a foolproof plan to make this a reality.

“If I’m a film major and I make friends with all the other film majors, then I can just be in all the movies, which is kind of exactly what happened,” Morrow said. 

But it wasn’t long until she fell in love with the other side of the camera as well and started directing. 

“I really think that those two things go hand in hand, acting and directing,” Morrow explained. “Knowing or having the perspective of an actor makes you a better director, and vice versa. And I think that a lot of new directors come in without that perspective, and it’s hard to know how to work with actors.”

Bernstein got his start making stop-motion YouTube videos as a kid. Until taking Intro to Film his sophomore year, though, he had only really considered himself a creative writer. He loves the collaborative and flexible nature of filmmaking. 

“Words are kind of limited at a certain point, or maybe I’m just not good enough with them,” Bernstein joked. “So I think the fact that film is very visual allows you to communicate messages through images and not words, which feels more freeing.” 

The festival is a must-see event, featuring local and international films, with tickets starting at just $5. Morrow believes that SLIFF offers the ideal place to experience the featured movies. 

“It makes a difference when you see it on a big screen with surround sound and with a theater full of people laughing, crying, hooting, hollering,” Morrow said. “If you haven’t been to a movie theater with a sold-out crowd, you haven’t seen a movie! So be there in person, get your butt in a seat, and go!”