Perfect Dark

A human larva, viscous, faceless, covered in wounds, moves through an ordinary day of its existence: bathing, getting a haircut, watching its favorite film, and working on its art. A self-portrait about the loneliness and self-acceptance of filmmaking.

About this experimental short, director Robert Darroll wrote, "One meaning or many meanings? But not any meaning! A field of meaning. Better. Intended meaning? Yes, but not compelling. Conventional meaning? Definitely not. Is this a narrative? Yes, but new narrative has infinite possibilities for the viewer to collaborate with the author. It isn't finished after one reading." Intended as as an epilogue to Darroll's previous work Future Paleontology.

About this experimental short, director Robert Darroll wrote, "Ultimately everything is an interpretation of a reconstruction. Paleontology of the future is necessarily a reconstruction and interpretation of the present and our interpretation of the past as seen through the templates of a future ideology. The quest for new narrative forms, the investigation into the way we derive meanings, whether intended or not, determined the form of this work."

Flowers dance and transform in water, using strobe effects and superimposition. A meditation on life cycles through botanical animation, continuing Jodie Mack's material exploration.

Whereabouts is a riso-printed animated short that follows a woman’s journey through New York City, unfolding through small, intimate moments. From sunrise to sunset, Whereabouts becomes an observation on presence, connection, and the quiet magic of simply moving through the world.

Beneath the skeleton, the flesh that rustles, turns and returns to our heads before rotting in silence. This is the story of this flesh. This surrealist narrative draws us into a darkened world of the unconscious. No matter how bizarre the spectacles we watch are, thanks to superb animation they flow smoothly and surely.

An immersive dive into the heart of the discomfort felt by anyone struggling to sleep.

A visual reinterpretation of dance and animated found footage.

An autonomous labyrinth wreaks havoc.

An experimental short from Oskar Fischinger

A girl and an older man discuss the nature of reality while doing chores on a pig farm.

Begins as a whimsical piece with 'sheets' of lines running down the screen, progressing into more and more complex geometic patterns but without deviating from the basic precepts of 'dot and line' animation. Jazz piano on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and a spring color palette. -- Stephanie Sapienza. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2001.

An experimental avant-garde film where the character battles with herself, struggling to understand and embrace her true identity. Blending dream-like and reality sequences together, the film connotes inside the character’s mind. Escaping to different parts of her subconscious, she is met with confrontation, fear & desire. This piece of work highlights themes of identity, surrealism & subjectivity, where the instability of the self is at the forefront of the film. The film uses elements of mixed media montage to portray the character’s inner thoughts.

In the aftermath of an emotional shock, a ruthless high-class manager faces her own abyss, becomes pervaded by a sensory spirit and undertakes a purifying voyage.

This is an amateur student mood piece comprised of footage I've filmed with my Camcorder at uni over the course of the first half of 2023. The prompt given for this was 'belonging' and so I've gravitated it around the premise of navigating a place that you feel as though you don't belong in, to the point where you become detached and alienated from your own identity. - Toby.

Iris Anderton, gifted with the ability of foresight, abuses his powers to win fights. But when he faces an opponent he cannot beat, he becomes trapped in an endless cycle of violence.

A man on his way to an interview stumbles upon a surreal VOID, ANCIENT TEXTS, and ENIGMATIC FORCES.

Maxed out, burnt out, and sex-starved, Amber Su falls under the spell of glamorous self-help guru Coco Ging, whose mentorship turns desire and ambition into different kinds of debt. Repression evolves into possession as Amber molts into a new ego: a worksona.

A small collection of red rocks from the beach cycle through the primary colours before ultimately losing both their colour and form, abstracted through digital degradation. An experimental short film exploring newfound issues in preservation in the digital age and how this ties to our own memory, fading as the years go by.

In Bloom is an abstract Gothic Romance short film by writer-director Christopher Rosica, blending experimental cinema with the timeless themes of love, loss, and memory. Crafted with a meticulous attention to atmosphere, the film offers a haunting exploration of the boundaries between the living and the dead. Shot in evocative black-and-white on a Fujifilm XT-30 by up-and-coming cinematographer, Xuepei Hou, In Bloom pays homage to the aesthetic traditions of visionary filmmakers such as Bergman, Tarkovsky, and Fellini, while drawing narrative inspiration from literary icons like Mary Shelley and Henry James.