Molly Murphy
Honorable Mention World on Fire Program 2020

The world is about to be swallowed by a black hole. Meteorites fall from the sky, ocean waves take on enormous new heights, and chaos abounds in city streets as people confront their looming demise. The world turns to wealthy entrepreneur, Rob Bilford, whose “Escape Lottery” offers the only chance at continuing the human legacy. Wary of the entire structure surrounding this celebrated lottery, Rana Ralorina, a surfer, decides to ditch her lottery ticket for the chance to catch a cosmic wave. In and outside of a black hole’s gravitational pull, Rob and Rana discover time to take on a new meaning...

Molly is an LA-based filmmaker from the suburbs of NYC. She is inspired by memory, dreams, endurance, scientific wonder, and extreme environments. You might describe her work as a psychedelic amalgamation of those subjects. In 2017 she spent a month at sea with a group of oceanographers, collaborating on the production of a Natural History Museum documentary while drawing detailed illustrations related to the team’s findings. The expedition studied the impact of climate change on ocean acidification, and if you ask her to tell you more you’ll never hear the end of it. She is currently developing more short films while making art and animations for @left_cliq, a blooming leftist art collective she co-founded in the early days of quarantine.

Director Statement
There’s this idea that the modern playground we’ve come to know is born of the world wars. As cities processed the trauma of warfare, these public spaces provided a space for healing. For me, animation is that playground. It is the space where darkness sees light; where detritus is woven into new, lively form.