Something of a love letter to the English county where he grew-up, Tom Haines’ hazy-summer tale of parental pressure and teenage boredom is an atmospheric short bathed in sun-drenched cinematography. A day in the life of an orchard owner, his family and his seasonal staff, Night of the Foxes may feel like a scene from a larger narrative, but as a short its distinct and somewhat unnerving tone means its a film destined to leave its mark, even if its conclusion may leave many with more questions than answers.

Kent, Garden of England. The summer is long and fruitless, tempers are frayed and subdued with drugs and alcohol. A fall from grace, rampant foxes and errant teenagers spell danger in the midnight orchards.

Having grabbed the attention of the editorial team here at Short of the Week with a series of impressive music videos for the likes of The Temper Trap and The Civil Wars, Tom Haines is a director we’ve had our eyes on for some time now. Admitting to Short of the Week (via email) that his work on these promos has helped form his filmmaking approach, it’s easy to see how his MV work has lead to a longer piece like Night of the Foxes – “I think Music Videos, especially in recent times with a shift towards a more narrative approach, can be a great way of developing a voice as a director, and that’s the most important aspect for me – you don’t get many opportunities to test out your voice”.

Described by the director as an exercise “to try out working more with dialogue, performance, and a longer story arc”, it seems like this narrative was something Haines had been considering for some time, admitting that he’d “been toying with an idea based on these themes (a story that mixed a few teenage memories with other concepts) for a while”. As alluded to in the opening of this article, the narrative of Night of the Foxes is left quite open and it feels like we’re thrown into the lives of this Kentish family for such a short period before being ushered back out of it, but was this an approach the director purposefully targeted? “My favourite shorts aren’t definitive”, Haines reveals, “they are more like a selections of scenes, or a moment in time and that’s what I wanted to do here. I’m not a fan of shorts that feel too well rounded, and have a punchline ending, even if they’re great, it somehow feels cheap to me. I love film-making that leaves an afterglow, or allows you to put your own interpretation on it, that doesn’t pander to the audience or dumb them down – it’s higher stakes film-making because it’s harder to pull off. But when it works it’s sublime.”

Currently in what he describes as a “heavy gestation period”, Haines is currently in the development of his first feature film. While we await more news on that, be sure to keep an eye on his Vimeo account for more short films and music videos.