My Dollhouse is Ambar Navarro’s Latest Short Film

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Ambar Navarro's film MY DOLLHOUSE was filmed during her Spring 2021 residency at Automata (April 19 to May 2, 2021). Exploring the space, Ambar found a large Victorian era dollhouse in Automata's basement, and used it as her main subject and inspiration. With dolls and props purchased from the historic craft store Kit Kraft (now sadly closed), she created scenarios involving three young dolls staying home and having a quiet night. Unbeknownst to them, they were in a haunted house. Inspired by films like "Hausu" (1977) and "Black Christmas" (1974) where a group of girls face death and other frights, MY DOLLHOUSE takes on this horror genre in surprising ways. IN this case, the young dolls encounter a hungry soul-eating (doll)house.

Shot on 16mm, the film takes on a playful approach to horror and features sound design from Ambar's fellow CalArts alum, Daniel Eaton, and includes whispers and screams from collaborative friends.

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AMBAR NAVARRO (ambarnavarro.com) is a Mexican-American artist based in Los Angeles. She attended the California Institute of the Arts and earned a B.F.B. in Experimental Animation, where she focused on stop-motion animation and miniatures. Since graduating she has primarily directed music videos and musician-branded commercial work. Her miniature still lifes, which stemmed from her original stop-motion animation, have become compelling ways to create small scale scenarios and still frames around the themes of technology and her Mexican-American heritage.

These scenes act as altars and mini versions of her own life, and can be found in her book "Apple, Altars, and Shrines", available only at the MOLAA (Museum of Latin American Art) gift shop. Her work in motion takes on a more experimental and playful route, using found and purchased objects in her animation as a way to release less narrative storytelling.