When college student Ember (Aleigha Burt) road-trips for a weekend in the country with three peers, the lake house they stay at stirs discomfiting memories…that aren’t her own. Is she somehow connected to its violent history, in which racists seized land from the rightful African American owners? Her more shallow, privileged friends imagine they have nothing to do with that past—even as they sometimes lapse into treating Ember as a servant. Director/cowriter Raven Deshay Carter’s first feature probes the topics of institutionalized property theft and inherited trauma, while also shading eventually into fantastical narrative terrain. Suffice it to say, you don’t want to be caught on the wrong side of justice when the titular insects (also known as sand flies or biting midges) in this Florida-shot thriller begin to swarm. They just might deliver a supernatural vengeance no garden-variety bug repellent can protect the guilty from. —Dennis Harvey
Raven Carter
Raven Carter is a Texas-born filmmaker whose debut feature, Noseeums, premiered at London’s FrightFest. Her short films have also screened widely, with Weird People winning Best Editing and Best Cinematography at the Black Women in Film Network Festival. The short film will also premiere later this year on Aspire TV. Her short film White Washed was selected for more than 10 festivals and earned her recognition in MovieMaker Magazine. A Florida State MFA graduate now based in Austin, Raven tells stories that cut to the core of family, race, and womanhood.
RAVEN DESHAY CARTER: Director (Also a participant in the Oct. 12 State of the Industry Panel)
PAUL COHEN: Executive Producer (Also a participant in the Oct. 12 State of the Industry Panel)