Growin' Pains (2023)

• 72%
• 2023
• Sammson Orr

During a family argument, a teenager flees to the garden to find some relief from the noise and conflict inside, but the argument follows them out and cannot be escaped. Feeling hopelessly fed up, they begin to grow into the grass and are swallowed by the ground. When they wake, they are in a world beneath the garden floor where they have transformed into a cryptid creature, a green man, an escape from being human. What seemed at first a magical escapism becomes a burden as the house and conflict still plagues them. This short film deals with themes including childhood, anxiety of growing up, puberty, Queerness, and body dysphoria. As well as exploring climate anxiety and the urge to be closer to nature and the Earth.