Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival 2009

St. Nick is the story of a brother and sister on the run. He’s eleven, she’s eight. They’ve left their home for some unknown reason, and are living in the woods, hiding in barns and sheds, doing what they can to survive. As the bitter Texas winter sets in, they strike up residence in an abandoned country house and, for a brief, happy period, manage to escape the harsh realities of their circumstances. Eventually, they’re found by authorities; the kids manage to escape, but now they’re back in the wild, at odds with the elements. The sister gets sick. The brother gets caught trying to shoplift food. Their reverie is at an end; they return home to their parents. That night, the boy tells his sister that he can no longer stay. He promises her that he’ll come back and get her someday and then absconds, climbing out the window and running off into the night. We last see him at a train yard, waiting to hop a boxcar and ride away to who knows where.