GARDENING
2026 · 14m
Directed by Sarah Beeby
Genres: animation, drama, fantasy
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, surreal
In the aftermath of sexual assault, a woman retreats into the garden of her mind, searching for answers and a path to healing before she and her garden are destroyed.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A trauma narrative wrapped in garden metaphor—the kind of thing that could slide into precious symbolism, but Beeby's refusal to make the healing linear or pretty actually unsettles the whole 'finding peace in nature' cliché into something genuinely uncomfortable.
Formally situated in the lineage of introspective animation and psychological portraiture, Beeby demonstrates disciplined command of surreal space as a narrative tool, where every botanical detail serves the internal architecture rather than decoration.
The decision to animate rather than photograph grounds the trauma in abstraction, which could feel distancing—but that's exactly the choice that makes the garden feel like a real interior space instead of a metaphor explaining itself, letting the viewer's discomfort become the work.