Who is Billy Nawrocki? Why ‘Are You Wild Like Me?’

My name is Billy Nawrocki and I am going into production soon on, “Are You Wild Like Me?”, a horror short about a young cannibal that lives on the outskirts of a small town. Along with a multitude of music videos, commercials, and other video projects, I previously directed “ETA”, a short film about a family of believers on the eve of a religious apocalypse. Check it out here:

Along with directing, my day job is a freelance editor and DP, based out of my apartment in Brooklyn, NY.

I’m originally from my hometown in Unionville, CT. I love it there, but not only because my family is there: I love the 4-way town center with a gas station, pub, package store, and old hardware store. I love the truss bridge that connects the two main hubs of our town. I love the Farmington River that rushes under that bridge, and if I’m standing on it, I can follow the river two or three miles upstream until it disappears. I love that I know everybody, and previous generations of my family know previous generations of other families. I respect the “townies” that live there and never leave.

This is the type of stuff that inspires me. The quiet things.

But I’m also inspired by many other things– most importantly, horror films.

Serial killers. Normal things that are a bit…off. People that could eat other people. Characters that see something looking out from the highest window of an old Victorian home.

“Are You Wild Like Me?” leaves a lot of questions unanswered, just as many young kids have questions about life that will only be answered through experience. Visually, it’s a very simple film: no crane shots, no flashy moves. It’s all about the quiet moments: there aren’t more than 2 or 3 lines of dialogue. The visuals represent the main character, the little feral girl, who lives a simple existence because she doesn’t know the complexities to life yet– although she knows, deep down, she may be different. She watches other humans. She learns from the people she kills and eats, but doesn’t know what it means to be a civilized being. She is always discovering that she has more questions to ask.