“1862. Two Englishmen climb toward gold, and unravel.”

1862, the Canadian wilderness. Two Englishmen have been climbing for weeks, but the peak is still not in sight. Driven by ignorance, arrogance and colonial greed, they are desperate to reach the fabled Cariboo gold fields. But the mountain is indifferent to their pride. As their bodies fail and their masks of civility crack, a blood-stained axe and a stolen photograph trigger a violent psychological break.

Nikolas Harris is a writer and director based in London, drawn to character-led stories about people pushed to their physical, psychological and emotional limits. He picked up his mother's 35mm camera at eleven and made his first feature, Then I Was Lost, at nineteen, winning Best Director on the festival circuit. His work since includes the period thriller Once Upon a Time in England, which won him Best Student Director, and the WWII drama The Deserter, screened internationally. English Beasts continues his interest in what happens when control slips and the line between what's said and unsaid grows thin.