CHEZ MOI
Phuong Mai Nguyen | 2014 | France | 12’ | Animation
6TH EDITION
Stepfamilies are often a difficult stage for children. Fear and doubt are intensified by their imagination. Fear of the unknown, of course, but also fear of losing their place and their parents' love. This intimate animation film illustrates this complicated transition from the point of view of Hugo, a 6-year-old boy who suffers from loneliness and desperately tries to cling on to his mother, who is gradually transformed by contact with a new lover in the form of a frightening crow. The lack of dialogue amplifies the oppressive atmosphere. This reminds us that this difficult phase needs to be accompanied by words of reassurance, especially when it comes to parental love.
Phuong Mai Nguyen graduated from the Gobelins School in 2009 and La Poudrière in 2011 in animated filmmaking. She has since directed several short films, including Chez moi, which was shortlisted by the César Academy and the Academy Awards in 2016. She was also the graphics artist for the short film Celui qui a deux âmes (César of the Best Animated Film in 2017) and the series project Une semaine de Ferme-l’oeil, and she and Charlotte Cambon co-directed Silex Films’ Culottées (a.k.a. Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World), a series based upon Pénélope Bagieu’s comic books, which won multiple awards at film festivals and was sold across the world. She is currently working on a feature film project, In Waves (Silex), adapted from Aj Dungo's graphic novel.