Skip to main content
Judy's Garden film image; claymation snake wrapped around pile of snake eggs

Judy's Garden

VIFF Short Forum

International Premiere

In this enchanting animated short, a woman is confronted by death and taken on a journey through her past in a cosmic, and microcosmic, garden of life, death, and renewal.

 

Supported by

    

Community Partner

Director
Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2024

Language

No Dialogue

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

May frighten young children

PG

Open to youth!

7 min
Animation Shorts Women Directors

Credits & Director

Screenwriter

Nick Daly, Evie Metz

ANIM

Evie Metz

Original Music

Nick Daly

Evie Metz headshot; Judy's Garden director

Evie Metz

Evie Metz is an artist and educator whose work explores the cycle of life and the values of human beings. Her animations are created in collaboration with Nick Daly, who composes all of the sound effects which underpin the visual worlds that Evie handcrafts and brings to life. Her world-building process blends animation, sculpture, and photography with a focus on femininity, otherness, and the natural world. This work can be humorous and playful while at the same time addressing existential and mythical aspects of the human experience.

These award-winning short animations have been included in the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art Biennial and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. They’ve screened at festivals such as Glasgow Short Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, and the Maryland Film Festival. Online publications include NJStage, RVA Mag, NoBudge, and Girls in Film.

 

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Oscar® Shorts 2025: Animation

90 min

Magic candies, first kisses, and three brothers seeking hair transplants... the animated shorts package is a treasure trove of delights.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Chez Jolie Coiffure

Dir. Rosine Mbakam
70 min

Having immigrated to Belgium from Cameroon, Sabine manages Chez Jolie Coiffure. Her salon patrons, many of them undocumented immigrants, are not only be made to feel beautiful but can also escape the daily difficulties and harsh realities of their lives.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

No Other Land

Dir. Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor
96 min

Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Mami Wata + Drexciya

Dir. C.J. "Fiery" Obasi
119 min

Fiery Obasi's tremendous, dreamy fable, shot in inky, lustrous black and white, is an elemental tale of magic, devotion, and generational unease set in a traditional Nigerian village.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Nickel Boys

Dir. RaMell Ross
140 min

To tell the story of two friends serving time at a brutal racist Florida reform school, director RaMell Ross puts us inside their heads. It's a radical masterstroke in a powerful film, nominated for Best Picture.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Atlantics

Dir. Mati Diop
106 min

In Dakar, Ada loves Souleiman but has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers leave the country by sea. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada's wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread. It seems Souleiman has returned.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre