University of Richmond Professor Julietta Singh’s ‘The Nest’ to Premiere at Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND —The Nest, a feature-length documentary by University of Richmond professor Julietta Singh and filmmaker Chase Joynt, will make its world premiere at the upcoming Hot Docs Festival in Toronto, Canada. The largest documentary festival in North America, Hot Docs has selected the film as one of its prestige “special presentation” films.  

The Nest documents Singh’s return to say goodbye to her haunted childhood home. As she digs into the history of the house, she uncovers 140 years of forgotten matriarchs and political rebels she never knew. In this politically charged cross-community collaboration, the film interweaves Indigenous, Deaf, Japanese and South Asian histories, all connected through a single home.

Singh, a specialist in postcolonial studies and a creative writer, is Stephanie Bennett-Smith Chair of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Professor of English. The research that inspired The Nest began as a way to better understand her mother’s connection to the place she had lived for over 40 years, but Singh became fascinated by the many political and feminist histories contained within the house. 

“As I prepared to say goodbye to my maternal home, I began to research its history with the aim of situating my mother, and in turn myself, as part of its legacy,” said Singh. “In embarking on The Nest, we wanted to make a film that rediscovers and reshapes our collective sense of “home,” transforming it from a space of siloed personal history into a place of radical potential and historical possibility.”

Singh has taught at UR since 2010. She is the author of The Breaks, No Archive Will Restore You, and Unthinking Mastery: Dehumanism and Decolonial Entanglements. The Nest is Singh’s directorial debut.

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