The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga

Director Jessica Oreck in person for both screenings.

Deep in the forest, wedged in cracks in the bark and under the moss covered rocks, hide memories and myths. These subconscious tales, drawn from the natural world, inform the societies we build.  Jessica Oreck’s fantastical work combines animation, traditional storytelling and contemporary non-fiction filmmaking to recount the Slavic fable of the Witch Baba Yaga.  A frightful character, living in a woodland hut perched on chicken legs, she would roast her guests for dinner.  But as modern conflicts and scourges encroached, and their refugees fled to the forest, the implications of her presence shifted.  An impressive contemporary allegory on progress, the past and the power of nature.