2014/experimental/65 min.
HER WILDERNESS is an elliptical narrative of a lost, wandering child in the wake of an affair that may or may not have happened.
It is a multi-platform project over a decade in the making. Existing as both a feature length film and an online interactive experience created with Walter Coots, it investigates the frailty of choice and the slippery nature of identity from one stage of life to another.
HER WILDERNESS appeared on many year-end lists, including being named "One of the best undistributed films of 2015" (Film Pulse), "Best Experimental Film of 2015" (Indie Outlook), and "one of the best films of 2016" (Film Pulse).
Starring Lauren McCune, Morgana Shaw, Crystal Pate, Jack Elliott, and Riley Templeton in her film debut.
In an essay for The Talkhouse, Mosley wrote about the film’s ten year odyssey to completion.
The film's limited-edition soundtrack is available for purchase, courtesy of composer Clint Niosi.
The feature film is available for streaming on Kinoscope.
The interactive version of the film can be experienced here:
SCREENINGS:
-2014 Sidewalk Moving Picture Film Festival (world premiere)
-2014 Dallas Video Festival
-2014 14 Pews (Houston, TX)
-2015 Kinoscope Film Series (The New School/NYC)
-2015 Micro Wave Cinema Series (Madison, Wisconsin)
-2015 Middle Coast Film Festival (Indiana)
-2015 Edinburgh Art Festival (international premiere)
-2015 Northwest Film Forum (Seattle, WA)
-2018 The Spectacle Theater, NYC
PRESS:
"There are filmmakers out there playing with the form, breaking the rules of narrative, and creating some truly unique works with distinctive voices. To find them, you might have to go down less familiar paths but the rewards are films like Frank Mosley's "Her Wilderness".
-Kevin Jagernauth, INDIEWIRE
"A mesmerizing film... by a superb actor and filmmaker."
-Matt Fagerholm, ROGEREBERT.COM
"The film possesses an emotional richness that is felt from the start...provides the sort of fulfillment of good poetry."
-Michael McWay, HAMMER TO NAIL
"Burrows deep into your subconscious like a vivid fever dream....at once alien and achingly resonant."
-Matt Fagerholm, INDIE OUTLOOK
"A delicately fate-fixated mid-length enigma. Thoughtful, approachable, and unpretentiously curious about the nature of motion-picture artifice, Mosley’s the sort of experimentalist we don’t see often enough."
-Jonathan Kiefer, KEYFRAME
“Much more experimental than his debut feature, his sophomore effort is a spheric tale following four women at an assortment of varying major life milestones. It’s a beguiling experience, in particular having one striking long-take that wouldn’t be out of place in something like Carlos Reygadas’ “Battle in Heaven.” -Christopher Jason Bell, THE PLAYLIST
“A sparse, thoughtful feature… (and) amazingly assured for a new filmmaker. Mosley shoots the beautiful and the painful with the same inquisitive, straightforward lens. Her Wilderness is equal parts Terrence Malick-inspired naturalism and an Ingmar Bergman-esque crisis of faith.” -Dana Reinoos, SCREEN SLATE
"This trance-like storytelling almost invites the viewer to succumb to slumber, lulling them into their own dreamworlds wherein they transport the components of Her Wilderness in order to manufacture an artistic work distinctively their own."
-Kevin Rakestraw, FILM PULSE interview + review
"Hypnotic. An intellectual, choose-your-own-adventure story. Like any great expression of creativity and imagination, Her Wilderness is a playground for interpretation."
-Victor Stiff, POP OPTIQ
"This lyrically short feature is entirely enrapturing. It feels like something Terrence Malick could (and probably should) make this decade, and yet it's an altogether original, softly phantasmagorical piece of filmmaking. It's impossible to shake the cumulative effect of Her Wilderness as a cinema poem."
-Grant Phipps, LAKE FRONT ROW
"Transcends the narrative form. A vibrant fantasy... that deserves to be studied." -Don Simpson, SMELLS LIKE SCREEN SPIRIT
"One of the most ambitious multimedia experiences that North Texas has ever seen."
-Anthony Mariani, FW WEEKLY
"A terrific film… with an impressive sound mix and an extraordinary opening credits sequence." -Craig Keller, CINEMASPARAGUS
"There’s something curiously intriguing about Mosley’s film. Something that just draws the viewer in. The eyes can’t turn away, even in painful moments. It’s just incredibly human, and yet on some level, artificial. Inauthentic in a familiar way; at once distancing and engrossing. See it. The resulting conversation will fill the rest of the day."
-Kris Noteboom, THEATER JONES