L.A. Screening Program Femme Grotesquerie Explores Feminine Forms Through Animation

Los Angeles Filmforum will present Femme Grotesquerie, a new program of experimental animated shorts that interrogates and reimagines representations of femininity, on March 8, at 7:30 p.m.

The screening takes place at 2220 Arts + Archives in Los Angeles and will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Jenny Nirgends and curator Sam Gurry.

Curated by Gurry, Femme Grotesquerie brings together ten contemporary animated pieces that embrace excess, discomfort, and transformation. Featuring a wide range of animation techniques, the program spotlights unruly feminine aesthetics through imagery that weaves between humor, tenderness, volatility, and menace.

Gurry described the collection as:

“Desires that curdle. Ambitions that molt. Girlhood morphed into menace, myth, and power.”
The program brings together ten short animated works spanning direct animation, stop-motion
and digital techniques. Across the selections, artists embrace the grotesque, the excessive and
the unruly, depicting worlds “lived, imagined, subverted, or reclaimed.”

Highlights include the glitter-laced 16mm textures of Moon Cycle, the porcelain puppet animation On Weary Wings Go By (a Cartoon Brew favorite from 2025), which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, and The Gnawer of Rocks (Mangittatuarjuk), recently screened at the Sundance Film Festival.

The program features work by Justine Lai, Alice Bloomfield, Anu-Laura Tuttelberg, Amy Lockhart, Victoria Vincent, Sofia Carrillo, Sophie Koko Gate, Jenny Jokela, Louise Flaherty, and Nirgends. Tickets range from free for members to $15 general admission.