2023 Film: A Letter with My Sword, Word by Word

A Letter with My Sword, Word by Word by Emma Barany
Milwaukee, WI (Milwaukee Premiere)

Running Time: 3 minutes
Block 1: September 8th, 6:30PM
Animation

For tickets click HERE.

Through swordplay and commands, our main figure, Emma, explores the structures and challenges of her past relationships. Ultimately, this leads her to the ones most important to her.

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Director Bio:

As a dedicated Animation major and Graphic Design minor, Emma Barany strives to bring a tactile sense of multimedia to her films. She has recently graduated with her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Being a proud Women in Animation member, Emma also looks up to fellow female animators.

Director Statement:

For my entire life, I thought I would go to the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. A stone’s throw from home, it was where my dad worked and where I attended numerous pre-college classes. It was familiar. Safe. Upon a last-minute college tour, my foundation was rocked as I suddenly chose to enroll at a college 12 hours away on the east coast- The Maryland Institute College of Art. It was the hardest decision I’d ever made, and it challenged everything my family and I had seen as an assumed plan.

I would make it again in a heartbeat.

The distance helped me establish autonomy as an adult, and it allowed me to question certain aspects of home that had seemed infallible.

My Thesis represents this by reflecting on the relationships most influential to me on my personal journey. Family and friends take the form of shapes, as well as textures from letters they’ve sent me. I move through this landscape, interacting with our relationships and exploring the structure and strains of each. Showing in the end that while certain decisions are challenging to make, they are necessary for personal growth.