The Night Visitors

Those soft fluttery little brown beings that live in our pantries and sock drawers are often thought of as pests, or disregarded entirely as objects unworthy of concern. The Night Visitors considers moths as the beguiling biodiverse creatures that they are. It approaches them from a variety of lenses and distances – from how they are generally thought about by humans to their role in indicating climate change and degradation of a given habitat. Ultimately they are presented in a new light – as aesthetically magnificent and diverse, through stunningly tactile close-up photography. Michael Gitlin’s film is more than a documentary about moths, it is a meditation – in the true sense of the word – on the act of looking, on seeing and being with that which surrounds us in the ordinary day to day world. Of existing in the calm, unthreatening night, in which the moths provide a kind of solace as well as a fascination. Through Gitlin’s wholly attuned camera, the sounds, behaviours and movements of these – yes, beautiful – nocturnal insects are captured in a manner that is unrushed and always generous. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)