Céline Roustan
As we witness a scientist’s perception of reality get intertwined with her study on an ant colony, as her pregnancy progresses, her own relationship with her partner and her baby start being influenced by the dynamics of the insect community she is observing. In her animated short Colony, writer/director Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma cleverly uses entomology to explore the many layers of the human reproductive process, and metaphorically capture her protagonist’s experience.
“Much of my work deals with comparing ecology or nature to human interactions”
Narratively speaking, the two major arcs of the film are the protagonist’s journey into motherhood and her obsession with her work on the ant colony, and how both will begin to blend into one another. “Much of my work deals with comparing ecology or nature to human interactions inside familial living structures, especially from a feminine lens”, Garcia-Fernandezsesma shared with us when we asked about the idea behind the film. Adding that it was a specific kind of ant, the leafcutter, and the role the males play in that society that inspired the film. Aiming to explore the idea of “the male’s usefulness amounting to reproduction only, but putting it in the context of humans and the ‘male provider’”, Colony’s director uses her protagonist’s obsession with ants to mirror that dynamic she has with her partner.
However, that relationship with the “father”, who at this point is mostly a genitor, is only one of the layers of Garcia-Fernandezsesma’s complex narrative. Colony is also about becoming a mother, as the storyline focuses on the scientist’s relationship with both her baby and herself throughout its 13-minute run-time. The presence of a lingering pre and post-partum helping to blur the line between reality and her obsession. The idea of lineage is also present, and even more complex as the baby is multiracial. When the mother looks at her own child she does not necessarily see herself.
“The film was made using a variety of techniques and I often dabble in mixed media and combining digital and traditional animation practices” – Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma on her approach to the animation.
Despite the quite insane premise of the film, the emotional journey of the protagonist is incredibly compelling and through both the visual style and the metaphors it creates, it becomes easy to find elements of the narrative relatable. Garcia-Fernandezsesma describes her work as belonging to the “Folk Horror” genre, and it is the way she blends those elements with the universal elements of her storyline that make her film so emotionally effective. The isolation and the chaos she crafted in the film are immersive and make her interactions with her surroundings all the more vibrant.
Colony was created with the support of the GLAS Animation Grant – GLAS being an organization close to our heart and whose taste we deeply respect. Ahead of its online premiere with us, Colony hit the festival circuit in 2022, and picked up the Best Animated Short Film Award at the TOHorror Fantastic Film Fest. Garcia-Fernandezsesma is currently working on a new short titled Pajarito, still in early development, that she hopes to premiere in the 2024/2025 season.