Stuck in a Wasp Nest

There is a sickly sweet smell of fear in the air and an ever-present buzzing that drowns out reality. On a warm summer’s day, a woman on a date notices a single wasp on the window of the cafe. Their eyes meet and she is taken back in time to when she was a little girl running through a meadow. Her long blonde hair is buzzing curiously, ominously. Back in reality, she decides to push down her fear and ignore the wasp in lieu of paying attention to her date. However, as the fear keeps growing, so does her date’s discontentment with her behaviour. What happens when you put together someone unable to control their fear reactions and someone who fears breaking social norms? Is she able to take back control over her own fear and of others’ reactions to it?

Director’s statement
This film is a deep dive and a personal research into the sticky hold that a phobia can have over someone's reality. Starting with the day my mother had to comb a swarm of wasps out of my hair to the many ways the fear still affects my day-to-day life as well as how other people tend to invalidate it. This is illustrated by etudes of wasps with their weird bent bodies, angry little feet and jerky movements juxtaposed to a scene at the restaurant where the woman cannot sit down at the table until the wasp leaves. People are always saying the same things: "Just don't move", "Blow it away", "It won't hurt you", while the fear has a mind of its own. The story draws a parallel between the wasp and the love interest. At times when we know danger can be imminent, either from the buzzing sound coming from a bunch of flowers or while choosing who to go out with, there is also the paralyzing potential of getting stung and the confusion of not knowing which side the attack will be coming from.