On June 13, the DGA's Independent Directors Committee West (IDCw) hosted a screening of Director Benh Zeitlin's new allegorical fable Beasts of the Southern Wild, in the Guild's Los Angeles Theater.
The first full-length feature by Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild tells the story of Hushpuppy, an intrepid six-year-old girl who lives with her father, Wink, in a southern bayou community called “the Bathtub.” Cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, Hushpuppy is forced to fend for herself after Wink contracts a mysterious illness and nature is seemingly upended as the temperatures rise, the ice caps melt, and an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs are unleashed to roam free by a fierce storm reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina. Beasts of the Southern Wild won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
Following the screening Zeitlin discussed the making of the film in a conversation moderated by Director Jonathan Levine (The Wackness, 50/50, Warm Bodies). Zeitlin's previous films include the shorts Glory at Sea (2008), The Origins of Electricity (2006) and Egg (2005).