At every FLEFF there is an unusual surprise, something I never see coming and would never expect.
In 2017, I was asked to lead a post-screening discussion after a documentary film about large rats. Although I tried, I couldn’t beg my way out of it.
I’m a team player, and I have a special relationship with one of the co-directors, so I decided to show up. I hoped that at least one other person would be sitting in the theatre at Cinemapolis. Not only had I not seen Rodents of Unusual Size (2017) in advance, I had not even bothered to research it like I normally would do for any film I was asked to moderate at a festival.
My first surprise was that more than a few dozen people were seated by the time I arrived. Now I was concerned. I thought I might be able stay awake and lead some kind of discussion afterwards because the film was only an hour long.
My second surprise was that Rodents of Unusual Size turned out to be among the most memorable films I have seen at FLEFF.
Set in the post-Katrina bayous of Louisiana, this absolutely riveting film tells the story of a down-on-his-luck fisherman and his colorful friends’ obsession with the innocuously named “nutria.” Nutria are rodents that can grow to two feet long and weigh up to twenty pounds. They look like a beaver blended with a rat.
Some bayou residents capture and skin the nutria, transforming them into hats and other clothing. Nutria fan clubs and dances abound. People live with them as pets.
