Dec 5, 2024

Academy Awards 2025 Short Film Shortlist: Curiosa Director Tessa Mule Mireuska

Cartoon Brew is putting the spotlight on an animated short film nominated for an Academy Award in 2025.

This article looks at the British film director Tessa Moult-Milewska's Curiosa. The short received an Academy Award for Best Animated Short at the Austin Film Festival.

Curiosa visits her boyfriend's apartment for the first time in order to discover that it has been stripped naked of all personal belongings, after being denied an overly inquisitive Merry explanation, she climbs into his head, jumps into his spirit and discovers more about him, their relationship and even himself. The film was made at the UK's National Film and Television School.

Cartoon Brew: About someone who wants to build something, finding the right balance between too little and too much is the main theme of your film, but how does it reflect your appreciation for your own relationship in today's modern world?-

Tessa Moult-Milewska: It feels unique to me that people are sharing photos, videos and memories of years ago so openly online with strangers and people who may be building relationships in the future. When you are getting to know someone, all the pieces of information carry weight and without telling the story behind these photos, they can easily turn into abstractions detached from our lives. I don't think I'm the same person as I was 5 years ago, so why would I present an image of the moments from that time, especially the relationships with people I no longer have contact with?-

In a world where there are so many opportunities for connection, it's easy to prioritize quantity over relationship quality and not delve deeper into each other's minds to build true understanding.This is especially important for people who are different from us. We've never been so comfortable in our own bubbles, and it's so easy to shy away from ideas that make us uncomfortable. On the other hand, as long as I truly want to understand other people, I believe that it is essential for intellectual and emotional growth - I also know that this will never be fully possible. There is a certain loneliness in understanding how little we can control or predict, but the mystery has a lot to discover.

What was it that forced us to connect with you and direct a film about this story or concept?-

I once experienced Mary-like curiosity when I was young and was a little uneasy in my first relationship. My vivid imagination caused jealousy when I heard more about my partner's past. Retroactive jealousy is a fascinating topic, and so is the dilemma of whether it's better to know everything or, perhaps, keep happy in ignorance. Realizing that our partners have loved before, and that what we are creating may not be the pinnacle of their romantic life

These stories promote the idea of a romantic connection that is often fully reserved for one single, aligning the other half. I have always found that not only this story, but many social stories about the position of women in society are questionable. I was also attracted to magical realism, surrealism, and the psychology of the human mind, and wanted to combine these interests into a short film.

What did you learn through the experience of making this film, production-wise, filmmaking-wise, creatively, or about the subject-

In the early stages of working on the story, I did not realize how many people would be fully related to the emotions depicted in it. During the filming of Pixilation, we also worked with the actors. As animators, we usually don't animate living people, so this presented some challenges, but overall it was incredible. Talking through scenes, improvising dialogue and brainstorming ideas made the process particularly rich. I've also learned a lot about receiving feedback and the same

Can you explain how you've developed a visual approach to cinema where it's about being assertive and holding the ideas you believe in - why have you settled on this style/technique?

As a creator, I love stop-motion and often explore similar themes in my stories, but I wanted to try something new with Curiosa, not limited to one visual approach. Tutors at the National Film and Television School really encourage experimentation and the development of unique visual styles using mixed media techniques. The idea of animating masks with real people felt new and fresh to me - I knew I had not seen this technique in any other film and wanted a unique aesthetic contrast between the realistic external world and the world in my mind. This allows you to combine both stop-motion animation and pixilation styles.