Erica Amato

IN MY SKIN

IN MY SKIN uses subtextual queer themes to connect queer identity to the monstrous. Using handmade materials such as painted frame-by-frame animation and puppet stop-motion, we explore a complicated relatability between man and monster.

“My newest short film, IN MY SKIN, uses handmade materials like painted frame-by-frame animation and puppet stop-motion to explore queer subtext in monster movies and how they depict that very specific feeling of not being comfortable in your own skin. In this short film, we watch someone who is uneasy in their own body as they see their own face reflected back as a monster. When they find comfort and relatability in a monster movie, they get pulled into that monster's painted world. There, the two of them are forced to merge, symbolizing their shared experience of ostracization due to their monstrous life experience and physical appearance. The inspiration for this project stems from the long history of queer communities embracing and projecting their life experiences into the subtext of horror and monster movies since it is a safe and discrete place to explore gender expression and sexuality. This subtext also tend to explore queer topics in a more nuanced way since a lot of explicitly marketed LGBTQ+ media is not made for us, but instead for a wider audience to experience us from a distance. Mixing analog mediums with build-up puppetry and ~400 painted frames hopefully creates a specific kind of viscerality and uncaniness and lets audiences see my handprint and personal experience of being a queer artist projected in my work.”