Chatter

A single parent nurse and her two daughters each find their own way to navigate the first lockdown. During the peacefulness and sunshine at the start of the pandemic in the UK, a young girl hears insects and trees talking in the countryside near her home. she uses this discovery to entice her older sister out of a depression. The film uniquely integrates audio description into the main soundtrack.

  • Jane Devoy
    Director
    Inhabit
  • Jane Devoy
    Writer
  • Tanvir Bush
    Writer
  • Riley Yeomans
    Writer
  • Vivienne Coxhead
    Writer
  • Jane Devoy
    Producer
  • Audrey Smith
    Key Cast
    "Hetty"
  • Mia Ashcroft
    Key Cast
    "Jess"
  • Laura Ashcroft
    Key Cast
    "Gemma"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 21 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 26, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Full HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Cinema D'idea
    Rome
    Italy
    June 26, 2022
    World
    Official Selection
  • Accessible Film Festival
    Ankara
    Turkey
    October 17, 2022
    Turkish
    Official Selection
  • Osnabrück FilmFest
    Osnabrück
    Germany
    October 12, 2022
    German
    Official Selection
  • Montecatini International Film Festival
    Montecatini
    Italy
    November 2, 2022
    Best Family Monograph
  • Women Over Fifty Film Festival
    Lewes
    United Kingdom
    September 23, 2023
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Jane Devoy

Jane’s short films have been supported by AHRC, Arts Council England, British Council and Film London. Her work has screened widely at international film festivals, on UK, Danish and Virgin Media cable TV, and as multi-screen installations. She trained at the Northern Film School in Leeds and PWSFTviT Film School in Lodz, Poland. She gained a PhD in Film by Practice at the University of Exeter/London Film School. Jane is co-writing three feature screenplays with novelist Susanna Jones (EARTHQUAKE BIRD, Netflix).

Jane was raised in Lancashire, spent several years living in London and is now based in Gloucestershire.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

As well as making films, I also write audio description (AD) for Film and TV. With this project, I aimed to explore the integration of AD into the whole creative process (writing, shooting and post-production) resulting in a film where the AD is part of the main soundtrack for all to hear.

In 2020, I led a series of creative writing workshops with three visually impaired writers. Selected short stories produced by the writers were adapted into the screenplay for CHATTER.

The initial stories concentrated on experiences of the unique time of Lockdown 1 in April/May 2020 when the sun shone, the cars had stopped and we all became more attuned to nature. Many people also suffered, and continue to suffer, mental health challenges exacerbated by isolation and stress. This family and this story are a microcosm of observations and feelings that many people experienced during this time.

My aim was that this film should be accessible and enjoyable to people of all sight experience. I’d like a visually impaired person and their partner, friend or family member to be able to sit down together and watch it on an equal footing, without the need for any additional apparatus or soundtrack.

Thematically, the whole globe has been through this pandemic, and its resultant stress, so I hope that a global audience will be able to identify with it.