a still from animated short film feeding grief to animals featuring shadow puppet birds eating from a bird feeder

Ffolio: Feeding Grief to Animals

Feeding Grief to Animals, written and directed by Rebecca Parfitt, is a close-to-the-bone exploration of her own personal experience of the devastation of miscarriage and babyloss. 

The film is a live-action animation told through the medium of shadow puppetry (created by Small World Theatre).

The story explores a woman’s grief and internal conflict with her body as she loses the baby (narrated by Heledd Gwynn). Desperate to fill the void, she goes to her garden to try to seek solace in nature by feeding the animals that visit. It is here that the wild animals begin to show her another way to nurture; another way to heal. With each bite taken, her grief becomes more bearable. She realises that in nurturing nature her desire to mother can still be fulfilled.

This is a true story, both personal and universal, that aims to deconstruct the taboo of silence and secrecy around miscarriage and create a space to begin a dialogue for those it has affected.

Produced through Ffilm Cymru's Ffolio scheme with BBC Arts, BBC Cymru Wales and Arts Council of Wales.

Credits

Writer-Director: Rebecca Parfitt
Producer: Amy Morris
Cast: Heledd Gwynn