SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! The stop-motion technique reaches for the stars in the incredible animated short Dormilon, written and directed by Olivia Marie Valdez. A middle-aged man makes his way through an old movie house, cleaning up. Suddenly, a spotlight hits him, and he is dressed in horns and wings, with the auditorium filled with ghosts. He dances before the ghosts to wild acclaim but then falls and humiliates himself. The ghosts revolt and rise up against the man, who promptly wakes up from his dream.
While he slept, the man wore a cumbersome helmet that recorded his dreams on film stock. The man uses scissors to cut out the frames of humiliation, leaving in nothing but the parts of his dream performance that went well. He discards the disliked strips of film while showing his preferred cut in the old movie house he dreamt about. But as he enjoys his edited dream on the screen, the thrown-away strips of film rise from the trash and start making their way back, slithering their way toward the sound of the projector…
“…a spotlight hits him, and he is dressed in horns and wings, with the auditorium filled with ghosts.”
Stop-motion rocks. Out of all the innovations of the film medium, stop-motion remains the most unique and beloved. In Dormilon, auteur Valdez rocks in stop-motion until the clay breaks. Her style hits that dark continent between the straight and squiggle lines, creating a look that is intricately messy and wonderful. The gleam of the textures will excite those parts of the mind that never get used.
I was also entranced by dedication to past cinema traditions, like pasting together pieces of cut film footage for public exhibition through projection. Even though there is no dialogue, the mechanics of the dream recorder are easy to follow, especially since the device harkens back to the one used in Videodrome. While Dormilon could cruise on craft and look alone, this short punches way higher than its weight.
The narrative is conceptually very heavy, with some remarkable insights into the consequences of inner suppression. Valdez takes things in an unexpected direction that defies expectations and opens unusual possibilities. It is this potential for emotional reflection that makes this a stop-motion masterpiece that stands out from the rest of the pack.
This short has that magic stuff that separates a sketch from a poem in the short world. Watch and re-watch.
Dormilon screened at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival.
"…defies expectations and opens unusual possibilities"
