Private Project

Night Nurse

A year after giving birth to a stillborn, Bri is still lost in a forest of grief. The recent birth of a healthy daughter has done little to ease her suffering. And when her husband insists they hire a Night Nurse to help care for the child, Bri begins to suspect that the stranger they've let into their home isn't at all who she claims to be...

  • Jacob Colman
    Director
  • Jacob Colman
    Writer
  • Harris Kauffman
    Producer
  • Brianna Henry
    Producer
  • Kris Bowers
    Producer
  • Briana Henry
    Key Cast
    "Bri"
  • Caitlin Carver
    Key Cast
    "Carmen"
  • Colin Woodell
    Key Cast
    "Will"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Horror, Drama
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 1, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director - Jacob Colman
Director Statement

My wife and I had been trying to get pregnant for 2 years. During that time, two close friends of ours delivered stillborns. I had no idea what to say to them. How to help. Culturally we have zero fluency with the reality of infant death. We ignore it. It’s too painful. And I couldn’t help but feel the movies were partly to blame. Cinema has only been interested in portraying “good” pregnancies. Easy deliveries. Hearts made full. It’s an experience that in reality myself and so many of my friends never had.

What if there were a different portrayal? One that honored the realities of pregnancy, delivery and postpartum? One that showed the real-life struggles that nobody ever talks about?

What if we were honest about all the terrifying things that happen when you become a parent?

I wrote Night Nurse with my infant daughter in my lap in those delirious first few months of parenthood. I stole stories from my friends. Consulted with OB-GYNS and grief counselors. I mistakenly typed my own daughter’s name into the script hundreds of times. It was this close to me.

It was a way for me to deal with all this change. Upheaval. All of the fears that cropped up during pregnancy and began to shift and change shape after we brought our daughter home. I populated the story with anxieties that I believe are universal to new parents. The imagery and emotions that get seared into your brain during those early days and long nights…

That first anxious car ride. The body horror of physical recovery. The choking sounds at night. The mounting fatigue of each passing day. All with this one question hanging over your head – Am I doing this right?

I sought to show this experience in detail because I think there’s tremendous value in showing what’s often kept behind closed doors. Peri-bottles. Nursing bras. Bad latches. Witch Hazel. Blood. As a cis-male in my thirties, I was humiliated by how little I knew before my own baby came. There’s power in showing the reality of this experience. Vividly. Without apologies. Without blinking. It's the job of modern independent cinema to take aim at taboos. That was our goal with this project.