The Rising

The Rising is a short film about an invasive alien species, Giant Hogweed, as it rapidly colonizes the British landscape. Filmed throughout its yearly growth cycle, from dead seed heads and sapling shoots to huge flower umbels on statuesque stems, the film captures the plant's rapid and dramatic infestation along a lowland riverbank in England. Featuring an atmospheric soundtrack score by Lord Mongo, The Rising is part natural history, part sci-fi, and presents the alien interloper as both a dangerous, toxic menace and impressive, natural wonder.