Torn from their home by a hand in the sky, colorful spirits struggle against a tyrannical pink-and-blue binary in this surreal, wordless fable about the pursuit of authentic selfhood.
Thine Own Self (2021)
5 min. 55 sec.
Letterboxd // IMDB // Shortverse
Thine Own Self: Festival Screenings + Awards
Experimental Film Fest
North Carolina, United States, 2023
AnimaQUEER Film Fest
Brazil, 2023
Nominee: "Best Score"
Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival
India, 2023
Leeds International Film Festival
Leeds, United Kingdom, 2022
Out & Loud: Pune International Queer Film Festival
India, 2022
Winner: “Best Silent Film”
Finalist for the 55th Humboldt International Film Fest
California, United States, 2022
Distributed via Planet Classroom Global Network for Youth, 2023 (Ongoing)
Distributed via Teen Screen Pittsburgh, United States, 2022 (Ongoing)
Animafest Zagreb, Films for Children Competition
Zagreb, Croatia, 2022
Honorable Mention: Audience Favorite
Prairie Pride Film Festival
Nebraska, United States, 2022
Bendigo Queer Film Festival
Victoria, Canada, 2022
Through the Student Lens Film Festival
Colorado, United States, 2022
Durban Film Festival's Isiphethu International Student Film Festival
South Africa, 2022
QUEER-Streifen Regensburg Film Festival
Germany, 2021
Distributed via Jet Blue Airlines In-Flight Entertainment, 2021
Distributed via Focus Features Digital Distribution 2021 (Ongoing)
Seattle Queer Film Festival
Oregon, United States, 2021
FOR RAINBOW Festival of Cinema & Culture of Sexual and Gender Diversity
Brazil, 2021
OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival
North Carolina, United States, 2021
Syracuse International Film Festival Student Showcase
New York, United States, 2021
MicroActs 8 Artist Film Screening
London, United Kingdom, 2021
Short Encounters International Film Festival
Greece, 2021
Nominee: “Best Experimental Short”
WINNER of the Gotham's Student Short Film Showcase sponsored by JetBlue & Focus Features, 2021
Making Thine Own Self:
A One-Person, Zero-Budget Project
When my first year of film school at Syracuse University moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I adapted to the limitations of remote learning by deciding, for the first time, to try animation—a type of filmmaking possible to achieve from my parents’ basement, without a film crew or equipment. I spent the next 6 months working on this 6-minute piece, shot on iPhone.
To perform the Conductor’s Hands, I wore blue gloves and green sleeves, filming myself against green poster board taped on a bookshelf.
To animate the flying spirits, I shaped a piece of clay in front of green cardboard and took photos with the free iPhone app, Stop Motion Studio. The conductor’s baton is a silver utensil I found in a drawer in my parents’ kitchen. All of the clay started out red — I changed its colors later.
To create the spirits’ wings, I filmed a green birthday candle in front of a green plastic plate. The flame’s gentle fluttering movements created the illusion of life in the wings.
To rip a hole in the sky, I placed my phone in the bottom of a small wastepaper basket while recording upward, taped black paper over the top, and tore through the dark from above.
To help the spirits dance among branches, I took pictures of the trees in my backyard on a cloudless day. The blue sky served as a blue-screen.
To emphasize a sense of rigid conformity during the Binary March, the rows of cubed creatures were a batallion of clones, copied and pasted from a single clay figure—ensuring identical choreography in compliance with the hands’ commands.
