Professor Andrea Baccin takes his students to Basement Roma to analyze the work of Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel’s. Their films explore the human psyche through visual art in motion graphics and CGI.
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By Karoline Sophia Cevallos Ponce | Newsreporter
Art and Design Department Professor Andrea Baccin took his Advanced Graphic Design class (AS311-1) to the Italian premiere of two short films La Fille qui explose (2024) and Bébé Colère (2020) by French directors and filmmakers Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel were screened at Basement Roma from Oct. 7 to Oct. 26.
Professor Baccin said that he decided to take his students to this screening to show them the importance of visual art as a means to communicate with the audience.
“Graphic design isn’t just about creating something aesthetically pleasing,” said Professor Baccin. “It’s about communication and impact. Poggi and Vinel’s films show how visual art can take you to emotional depths.”
Combining computer-generated imagery and motion graphics, La Fille qui Explose and Bébé Colère explore different psychological experiences, including rage, fear, loss, and anxiety. Each film uses surreal and raw visuals to invite viewers to confront these often-uncomfortable emotions.
“Our films want viewers to not be alone, to feel something,” said Poggi. “We created a big area where we are all connected.”
La Fille qui Explose, released in August, tells the story of Candice, a young woman who undergoes an involuntary and violent transformation, literally exploding every day for three months. Her character represents the physical manifestation of extreme emotional states, resonating with those experiencing the pressures of life.
“The films were an emotional rollercoaster that defies expectations,” said one of the attendees. “They leave you with the feeling of not being the only one to feel lost in the world.
Photo by Karoline Sophia Cevallos Ponce.
According to the directors, the film uses video games aesthetic without any particular hierarchy “to reflect the world we live in.” The images are not in high quality, with characters from different backgrounds and with unusual styles, including the protagonist who appears with her heart outside of her body.
“At the beginning, the character was just one body,” said Vinel. “Two years after we said ‘that’s not enough’, we had to touch this body to create more connection with our minds.”
Bébé Colère tells a different kind of story. It follows the journey of a baby abandoned by her parents, forced to face the world alone as she grows.
“These types of emotions are often present in us, and they flow through our minds in a chaotic way,” said a student from Baccin’s class. “I think the films reflect this inner chaos.”
Mixing real life images of places, CGI characters, and voiceover storytelling, the film captured the viewers’ attention from the beginning.
“The baby is a universal character,” said Poggi. “Everybody can connect with it. You can’t tell things extreme like this, with a real-life character. It’s too much.”
Recent academic research highlights how films tend to underrepresent or misrepresent mental health issues.
According to the research by Associated Professor of Communication and founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Dr. Stacy L. Smith, mental health conditions are often underrepresented or misrepresented in film, with only 2.1% of characters in the top 100 films of 2022 depicted with a mental health condition.
“Films like these remind us that, sometimes, we have to look beyond the beautiful and comfortable,” said another student from Professor Baccin’s class said. “Art, after all, is meant to reflect every part of ourselves.”
Basement Roma is a non-profit contemporary art center established in 2012 and operated by CURA Magazine, a publication dedicated to exhibitions, screenings, and performances that explore various aspects of contemporary culture.
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