AND THIS IS MY BODY  dir. Concha Vidal

And this is my body is a film, which 'grows' out of a painting, but what starts as a calm, idyllic vision turns into the opposite, of what we see at the beginning.
A woman lies on the ground with a tree coming out of her ear. She is breathing calmly, as if sleeping, but suddenly starts moving restlessly and the tree starts 'growing backwards', disappearing in her ear. Soon after, her belly bulges out with another tree sprouting out of it. It overwhelms the woman, wrapping her in its roots, like a womb.
Hidden, or rather trapped inside, the woman, grows an umbilical cord, connecting her to the tree. She emerges from a void, surrounded by thick roots – a mother is born. She wraps the umbilical cord around herself and starts pulling the heavy load of an empty tree trunk, leaving a trace of blood behind her.
This story, which circles around the subject of motherhood, is simple, yet powerful. At the same time, it escapes easy interpretation, avoiding cliches. It shows motherhood as an opressive force. Is it a child, which was born, that is the growing burden? Or maybe the loss of a child, or a devastating longing for one to be born? Heavy as the tree trunk is, it seems empty inside - dead, yet bleeding. Is it the woman's blood? The only thing we can be sure of, is that her body is taken over by a powerful, uncontrollable force, which comes from within her - from her corporal being. It takes away the peace of mind, but also its complexity and beauty, leaving the woman with a burden, which she pulls behind her. Where is she going?

This short film leaves us with many questions and reaches out to resonate with our own experiences and longings.
The visual style is simple – it blends painting with dance, using an almost momochrome colour palette, with red accents. The movements – at the beginning naturalistic - remind us what we cannot control, when the physicality of our body takes over.
Their organic quality, however is something which the animated elements lack. They are painted by hand, but animated digitally, which weakens the effect of the overwhelming, growing, unstoppable force. Given the painting as a starting point, classical painted animation might have been a better choice and could give the movement more life and force by adding weight and rhythm to it - especially in scenes of roots growing around the woman, or the umbilical cord floating around.
The simplicity of the music matches the visual style, but flattens the overall dramaturgy. It doesn't emphasise the key moments nor add to creating tension or anticipation. Growing roots, the twisting body, flesh and tree bark – this could be a sound designer's dream and an opportunity to give the film a visceral touch. Sound effects combined with the right amout of music could've shaped its dramaturgy and taken this otherwise interesting project to another level.

7.8/10