The Moths Will Eat Them Up turns a late train into a moral test

She boards after dark. A stranger won’t keep his distance. The light is flat, the carriage is quiet, and the dread arrives without noise. 

The Moths Will Eat Them Up runs 14 minutes and makes that space feel endless.

The Australian short won big on the festival circuit, and you can watch it in full on ALTER’s YouTube channel right now.

What you feel while it plays

The story is spare by design. A simple commute bends into a cat-and-mouse standoff, and the film refuses to rush your nerves.

Screen Australia describes it as a psychological thriller, which is accurate, but the impact comes from how ordinary every beat feels until it doesn’t. 

What the film is saying

Writer and co-director Tanya Modini has worked in violence prevention, and the filmmakers are explicit about the themes they are pushing toward. 

Their statement frames the short as a look at gendered violence, the men who choose not to intervene, and a collective women’s spirit of protection and justice.

That politics is present, yet the piece stays cinematic rather than didactic.

Cast of The Moths Will Eat Them Up :

• Ling Cooper Tang – Rayne
• Kevin Spink – Man A
• Stephen Walker – Earbuds Man
• Eliza Allen – Young Woman 

How the craft tightens the screws

A quiet formal trick does a lot of work. Scenes outside the carriage breathe in a wider 2.35:1 frame, then once inside the train, the image snaps to 3:2.

The shift makes the space feel close, watchful, and increasingly hostile.

The team staged the film on an out-of-commission carriage and simulated movement, which kept the camera calm and the performances unbroken. 

Julian Panetta shot on a RED Monstro with Sigma cine primes, and the sound and score carry a steady, needling tension. 

Who made it

Co-directed by Luisa Martiri and Tanya Modini, written by Modini, produced by Martiri, with Madeleine Cocolas on score and Pip Hart editing. 

Screen Australia lists Ling Cooper Tang and Kevin Spink in the lead roles, with international sales handled by MAGNETFILM.

The filmmakers also note a majority female crew, quoted at 65 percent, which fits the perspective the film takes. 

Why it travelled

The short took two major prizes at Sydney Film Festival 2022, the Dendy Award for Best Live Action Australian Short and the Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director and later earned an AACTA nomination for Best Short Film.

Modini’s script also won the AWGIE for Short Film Screenplay. 

Watch it

Give it a quarter hour and headphones. The film is streaming worldwide on ALTER’s YouTube channel.

When the credits hit, ask yourself who you would have been in that carriage.