"Moving" by Nat Rovit

"Kids rely on routine and stability ... moving shook my world over and over."

For those who can sympathize, that sentiment hits hard.

Moving, from visionary filmmaker Nat Rovit—and no, we're not being hyperbolic with that label ... not much, anyway—is an unsettling glimpse into the psychology behind the inability to settle in, to establish roots. Visually and tonally, it's almost as though the film exists in its own universe, with its own rules, but strung to reality with that inherent reverb of something we've all been affected by: resistance to change.

"Before I turned 10, I lived across five cities in three continents, and I remember being deeply affected by each move," Rovit explains. "Looking back now, it made me more outgoing and resilient, but it was also this dark, disruptive experience that affected my school and my friendships. I just knew this was a relatable subject and something I needed to talk about."

Rovit's attempt to tap into the feelings of a kid forced to leave their world behind highlights a universal thirst for the routine. But by the end of the story, he hopes to impart a shade of hope: ultimately, change is "what fortifies us."

Told with stunning practical effects, thanks to the wizardry of SFX artist Victoria Arias, Moving stars Teddy Day, Spike Leffke, Jan Monroe, Mark Schroeder, and Alden Sherrill. A brief dive into a domesticated, Yorgos Lanthimos-esque allegory.

Odds & Ends

• Every location in the movie was filmed in and around a single house.
• The main title is created with stop-motion Claymation.
• Victoria Arias created a full head cast of Teddy, the lead, and built a statue replica of him. On set, they would shoot that for the wide shots and the coverage. And any time they were on a closeup of the statue, it was Human Teddy with maybe an hour’s worth of makeup on his face and clothes. Those effects coupled with a VERY still performance from Teddy (bravo, Teddy) and shooting on 16mm film brought the magic to life.
• The caterpillar book was designed by the art department and its fictional author was named after Rovit's grandmother.

About Nat Rovit

Nat Rovit is a rising directorial voice whose films have played festivals including the Seattle International Film Festival and HollyShorts Film Festival and earned him accolades across a variety of young filmmaker competitions. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Nat’s feature screenplay Jean Jacket was a Script Pipeline First Look Finalist and was selected as a semifinalist at the 2024 Austin Film Festival. Nat lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son where he has worked at several of the industry’s premiere film studios, including Searchlight Pictures and Paramount Pictures.