Marina Waltz
Directing
Biography
Marina Waltz is a London-based director whose films are marked by minimal, striking imagery and a playful, uncanny atmosphere. A BAFTA Connect filmmaker, her work has received multiple awards, including Best Animated Short at Vortex, presented by the Oscar-qualifying Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, First Prize at the Oscar-qualifying Spark Animation Festival, and the Alfred Hitchcock Award. She is currently developing the musical feature ‘Monkey Tricks’ with composer Marc Teitler and writer Christopher William Hill.
Known For
A lonely doll maker discovers his latest creation has come to life. He can finally have the perfect woman who can be everything he has been dreaming of: mother, lover, confidant. - But his joy turns to fear as he realizes that his doll is a feminist who is hell bent on destroying her creator. Be careful what you wish for.
Private Waltz
Recently married couple Lucy and Christopher are coping with their grief in opposite ways after the stillbirth of their child. Christopher just wants life to continue as normal but Lucy sees evidence of the continued presence of her child everywhere.
Part of Me
Lexi, a young protester, chains herself to an ancient oak tree marked for felling. She is confronted by Jack, a jovial but unsettling chainsaw-wielding local who spins tales of Dryads, seductive tree-nymphs who protect the forest. As her friends fail to return and Jack’s intentions remain unclear, Lexi is left terrified, alone, and unsure whether she is caught in a game, a trap, or something far stranger.
Quercus
An audience gathers in a screening room to watch a promotional film for Xanadu, a “revolutionary concept in clear-conscience living.” But beneath the corporate gloss lies a dystopian horror: humans reimagined as the ultimate sustainable resource. Welcome to Xanadu.
Xanadu
A doll in a white dress sinks to the bottom of a river. A young girl in the same dress awakens in a strange room among forgotten creatures, before being drawn through a mirror into a kaleidoscope of alternative selves — until they fracture and dissolve, leaving the doll floating in space
Suicide Note
A young boy in an abandoned room perceives clandestine messages emanating from the depths of his television, intertwined with ethereal glimpses of Komodo dragons observing his existence. He endeavours to change the channel but the temptation to continue watching overwhelms him; after reaching out to touch the screen, he sets off his own metamorphosis into a Komodo dragon and leaps into this alternate realm.
Madness in a Jar
The video for 'Ikigai' channels the track’s kaleidoscopic rhythm into movement-based choreography, exploring the search for meaning within an overwhelming brutalist landscape. Its game-like distortions and fractured imagery reflect the dehumanising forces of the city, intensifying the struggle for purpose and transformation.