FILM - Winter Hymns

Winter Hymns is an independent film by Wisconsin filmmaker Nathan Deming. He most recently screened his film FEBRUARY at the Historic Temple Theatre as part of his Year Project.

Winter Hymns is a feature-length film spanning one day in a single hospital room, as a palliative care physician - played by American Players Theatre core company member Colleen Madden - is drawn into escalating conflicts as patients and their families wrestle with the end of life.

"As the day unfolds, the hospital room hosts around 10 patients, and each of Dr. Vobernik’s encounters test her faith in the work. Yet with each pass of the tissue box, a strange beauty emerges in the midst of life in its final moments." —The Cap Times

Deming has rich inspiration to draw from: “My dad was a family physician, but he made the switch into palliative care for the last ten years of his medical career,” said Deming. “At first, hearing about his day, about death and dying, wasn’t something I wanted to think about,” Deming added. “But if you talk to most people in that line of work, they say this is a beautiful job. I thought it would be interesting to make a film about breaking down every mental defense we have against having these conversations, especially in the Midwest, where we keep our feelings buried.”

Ultimately, the film is "an epic tapestry of the slow-moving, often invisible tragedies that define the contours of daily life." —Wisconsin Film Festival.

Nathan Deming is a filmmaker and founder of Nobody Pictures. Originally from Wisconsin, he is based in Los Angeles and earned his Master’s in Filmmaking from the London Film School, where he studied under British director Mike Leigh. His debut feature Speaking in Tongues premiered at the Austin Film Festival and is available on Amazon and Apple TV.

Deming is a strong proponent for filmmaking in the state of Wisconsin. “A lot of movies lean into the beer and cheese and comedy of the Midwest, which I get. But allowing us to tell these deeper, heartfelt stories … shows the potential of building a film industry in this state.” 

In addition to opening doors for Wisconsin filmmaking, Deming also hopes the film makes palliative care physicians, like his father, feel seen and appreciated.