Rosetta's Lucky House

Mary Rose McClain, Emma Dollery | Unite States

Run time: 4:18 min.

Synopsis:
Rosetta’s Lucky House brims with love and charm. This short experimental documentary demonstrates three superstitions from the south of Italy. We listen as Grandma Rosetta traces the magical fragments of a maternal lineage that she carried with her from Sicily to the United States in 1955.
 
The film is set in a delicate space between myth, memory, and reality. The tapestry of classic Super 8 textures, as well as Domenico Modungno’s shimmering 1959 Eurovision hit, mirror the timelessness of the magic displayed: you too, could have a lucky home… if you follow Rosetta’s advice.

Bio:
Emma and Mary Rose solidified their friendship 7 years ago at the movies. The two have been creatively collaborating ever since. Both interested in the ways that magic leaks into the ordinary, Emma and Mary Rose pay close attention to the ephemera of mystery; odd repetitions, hypnotic visuals, and haunting stories and soundscapes.
 
Emma is finishing off her MA in cinema studies at McGill University. Her research interests lie in meta-cinema and reenactment. With her academic career coming to an end (for now), she is keen to get started on hands-on creative work. Mary Rose is a germinating filmmaker in NYC; Recent projects have examined power(s), compositions of outerworlds, her grandma’s Sicilian superstitions.

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Block E, No. 5

Block E, No. 5 | Block E, No. 5

Run time: 12:54 min.

Synopsis:
Çağla moves to Austria for university, facing the loneliness of a temporary dormitory, a liminal space that shapes her emotional journey. Meanwhile, her family in Istanbul struggles with the uncertainty and frustration of living in a rented apartment. Their home, demolished due to aggressive urban policies under the guise of earthquake risk prevention, remains incomplete for years. Through intimate yet online conversations, they share their longing for belonging, the weight of waiting, and the mundane tasks of daily life. In these cold, fractured spaces, time seems to blur, and memories echo as voices.

Bio:
Çağla Gillis is a PhD candidate in Artistic Research at the University of Arts Linz, Austria. Her work explores the more-than-human world through experimental ethnography, challenging anthropocentric approaches to documenting history and trauma. As a filmmaker, Çağla's work investigates women's experiences, everyday life, and imaginary topographies. She actively engages in work aimed at exploring the links between her personal life experiences and the broader historical and contemporary movements. Her films, blending experimental and documentary forms, have been screened at various film festivals and galleries internationally.

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Despite

Kate Raney | United States

Run time: 11:18 min.

Synopsis:
A short experimental animation exploring the tension between the wonder of motherhood and the anxiety of illness. Through collage and fragmentation, this film reflects upon the habitats that sustain life and harbor disease.

Bios:
Kate Raney began animating in college when given an assignment to make a 1-minute animated film. She immediately connected with the materiality and process of animating. Initially focusing on reinterpreting fairy tales with a feminist subtext, she turned to appropriating imagery from modern myths - the movies. Her current creative interests primarily involve combining live action and animation to investigate representation, performance, subjectivity, and process in the digital age.
 
Kate’s work has screened at numerous festivals such as SXSW Film Festival, the Maryland Film Festival, the Iowa City International Documentary Film Festival, the Factual Animation Film Fuss, and the Chicago Underground Film Festival. In summer 2011, she was a Sponsored Artist at High Concept Laboratories in Chicago where she shot Cleo from 5:41 to 5:43. She and Jeremy Bessoff co-directed Lingua Absentia, a cut-paper, animated documentary, which won the Golden Badger Award at the Wisconsin Film Festival and Best Animation at the West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival. Kate received an Ohio Arts Council Award of Individual Excellence in 2017. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University.