26/04/2025
13:30-14:30
Chapter 1: CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER
Five student short films inviting the female body to express itself in all its vulgarity, softness, and familiarity.
Curated by: Emily Walter & Max Ferguson of LuCi moving image collective in
dialogue with Komplot’s Camille Van Meenen
𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁, 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗮𝘁 𝟯𝟭, 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗲𝗻
Che Go Eun - The Taste of Tea (2023, 7’)
The Taste of Tea (2023) explores uncanny AI-generated visuals depicting a female body
undergoing decay over time, symbolizing the circle of life and the fusion of digital technology
with traditional paintings using AI imagery. The inspiration is drawn from Kusôzu(九相図), which means ‘painting of the nine stages of a decaying corpse’ in Japanese Buddhist paintings. The painting begins with a depiction of a beautiful female body in the first step and illustrates the stages of decomposition, ultimately to nature. This was a practice rooted in the aesthetic ideas of impermanence. However, what does it mean to illuminate the Buddha’s truth through the female body?
Amber Dooms - My Little Ambi (2023, 13’)
"In the village I come from, it was important to dig your own grave as a child. When the girls'
breasts started growing and the boys' cocks got hard for the first time, we had to prepare ourselves for adult life." With those words begins the film My Little Ambi, in which innocent childhood blossoms into the feverish world of puberty and young adulthood. It is a journey traversing sadness and loss, playful moments and humour, full of burning desire and with fantasy and hope for the future. It is a confusing metamorphosis of alienation in familiar surroundings. Blurring fiction and reality, Dooms shares candid memories, with her dreamed Utopia revealed as a fever dream. Far from the bright blossom of first blood on white cotton underwear, My Little Ambi announces the loss of innocence with the detachment and distance of an idyllic screensaver of a distant, exotic place.The hazy images of childhood dreams come to us through the white glow of the TV screen. Gauzy nightgowns catch between damp thighs and dull sand coats sweet fingertips. The knights can ride their steeds till kingdom come, but the kingdom is burning down to the ground. In Ambiland, the inhabitants pass their time coyly stroking their hair and watching the horses gallop by.
Albina Gaitova - Somewhere We Meet In The Blue Light (2024, 14')
In a fragmented and inmate exploration of virtual reality, three young women form a bond in an anonymous online world. Meeting regularly in shared digital spaces, they discuss everything from everyday topics to deeply personal matters. The film delves into the complexities of online friendships, the absence of physical form allows them to reveal truths they might otherwise hide, yet it also raises questions about the authenticity of their bonds. The digital space offers them a sense of belonging, but the tension between their anonymous avatars and the growing desire for real-world connection creates an undercurrent of longing. Ultimately, the film reflects on intimacy in the digital age, exploring how relationships can thrive or falter when reality’s boundaries are blurred. Heaven might be a place on earth, but paradise exists online only. I’ll pick you up and we’ll go to the beach.
Ella Schöning - A Touch of Schism (2024, 8’)
A Touch of the Schism depicts the journey of a creature moving dreamily through a forest who quickly encounters the shattering realization of its own fictionality. It desperately attempts to reintegrate into the seamless rhythm of the editing, but is unable to do so. Despite this, the creature continues to dance, moved by its persistent hope that ignorance will return. The piece embodies the common feeling of cognitive dissonance: the discomfort felt when our actions contradict our beliefs. We often look away quickly and make excuses when we engage in actions that harm the planet, animals, or even other people. A Touch of Schism serves as a moment of wonder and reflection that could perhaps spark an internal realignment.
Max Ferguson - You Are the Truck and I Am the Deer (2023, 5')
You are the Truck and I am the Deer is an experimental short film that explores the experience of emotional pain. The film uses poetic text to express the feelings of loss, helplessness and overwhelm during the process of accepting the hurt inflicted by others. These emotional wounds are translated visually into a physical and pulsing presence that represents a dark and unsettling image of femininity. You are the Truck and I am the Deer speaks to a feeling. A feeling of roaming, gnawing hunger. The knife's edge between decay and growth; the fertile potential for total destruction.
The Taste of Tea (2023) explores uncanny AI-generated visuals depicting a female body
undergoing decay over time, symbolizing the circle of life and the fusion of digital technology
with traditional paintings using AI imagery. The inspiration is drawn from Kusôzu(九相図), which means ‘painting of the nine stages of a decaying corpse’ in Japanese Buddhist paintings. The painting begins with a depiction of a beautiful female body in the first step and illustrates the stages of decomposition, ultimately to nature. This was a practice rooted in the aesthetic ideas of impermanence. However, what does it mean to illuminate the Buddha’s truth through the female body?
Amber Dooms - My Little Ambi (2023, 13’)
"In the village I come from, it was important to dig your own grave as a child. When the girls'
breasts started growing and the boys' cocks got hard for the first time, we had to prepare ourselves for adult life." With those words begins the film My Little Ambi, in which innocent childhood blossoms into the feverish world of puberty and young adulthood. It is a journey traversing sadness and loss, playful moments and humour, full of burning desire and with fantasy and hope for the future. It is a confusing metamorphosis of alienation in familiar surroundings. Blurring fiction and reality, Dooms shares candid memories, with her dreamed Utopia revealed as a fever dream. Far from the bright blossom of first blood on white cotton underwear, My Little Ambi announces the loss of innocence with the detachment and distance of an idyllic screensaver of a distant, exotic place.The hazy images of childhood dreams come to us through the white glow of the TV screen. Gauzy nightgowns catch between damp thighs and dull sand coats sweet fingertips. The knights can ride their steeds till kingdom come, but the kingdom is burning down to the ground. In Ambiland, the inhabitants pass their time coyly stroking their hair and watching the horses gallop by.
Albina Gaitova - Somewhere We Meet In The Blue Light (2024, 14')
In a fragmented and inmate exploration of virtual reality, three young women form a bond in an anonymous online world. Meeting regularly in shared digital spaces, they discuss everything from everyday topics to deeply personal matters. The film delves into the complexities of online friendships, the absence of physical form allows them to reveal truths they might otherwise hide, yet it also raises questions about the authenticity of their bonds. The digital space offers them a sense of belonging, but the tension between their anonymous avatars and the growing desire for real-world connection creates an undercurrent of longing. Ultimately, the film reflects on intimacy in the digital age, exploring how relationships can thrive or falter when reality’s boundaries are blurred. Heaven might be a place on earth, but paradise exists online only. I’ll pick you up and we’ll go to the beach.
Ella Schöning - A Touch of Schism (2024, 8’)
A Touch of the Schism depicts the journey of a creature moving dreamily through a forest who quickly encounters the shattering realization of its own fictionality. It desperately attempts to reintegrate into the seamless rhythm of the editing, but is unable to do so. Despite this, the creature continues to dance, moved by its persistent hope that ignorance will return. The piece embodies the common feeling of cognitive dissonance: the discomfort felt when our actions contradict our beliefs. We often look away quickly and make excuses when we engage in actions that harm the planet, animals, or even other people. A Touch of Schism serves as a moment of wonder and reflection that could perhaps spark an internal realignment.
Max Ferguson - You Are the Truck and I Am the Deer (2023, 5')
You are the Truck and I am the Deer is an experimental short film that explores the experience of emotional pain. The film uses poetic text to express the feelings of loss, helplessness and overwhelm during the process of accepting the hurt inflicted by others. These emotional wounds are translated visually into a physical and pulsing presence that represents a dark and unsettling image of femininity. You are the Truck and I am the Deer speaks to a feeling. A feeling of roaming, gnawing hunger. The knife's edge between decay and growth; the fertile potential for total destruction.