NOMINATED
Ida Melum -
Animation Director & Animator
WINNER
LOGLINE
While stuck at her sister’s baby shower a thirty-something woman is forced to decide whether she wants to have kids or not after unexpectedly giving birth to her reproductive organs.
SYNOPSIS
Surrounded by babies at her sister’s baby shower, EVA (34) is forced to fend off questions left, right and centre about when she’ll be starting a family of her own. As the questions overwhelm her, Eva’s stomach sears with pain.
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She excuses herself to the bathroom where her flat stomach suddenly swells and she finds herself in labour. Eva pushes and screams as new life is unexpectedly forced out of her. As the pain subsides she finds herself confronted not with a newborn but with OVY, her baby-loving reproductive organs.
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Mortified, Eva tries to run away but Ovy only pursues her. As they make their way through the town, Ovy does everything she can to convince Eva they should have a baby while Eva does everything she can to convince Ovy there is more to life than being a mum. Little by little they wear each other down and begin to listen to what the other has to say. As they finally see eye to eye, Eva is able to speak her truth.
WATCH OUR TRAILER
BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO
"Ultimately, OVARY-ACTING is about choice - the freedom to decide for oneself, free from pressure or expectation."
- Ida Melum, Director
THE DIRECTOR
NOMINATED
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WINNER
IDA MELUM
Ida Melum is an EE BAFTA and BIFA-nominated, Annie and RTS award-winning animation director based in Sweden.
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She is an alumna of the prestigious MA Directing Animation program at the National Film and Television School, where she graduated with the stop-motion film ‘Night of the Living Dread’. The film was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Short Animation, won 25 awards, imcluding an Annie Award in 2023, and was selected for over 90 festivals worldwide.
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Her upcoming stop-motion short, ‘Ovary-Acting’, was supported by both the Norwegian and Swedish Film Institute and had its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2025. The film was also selected for Official Competition at Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2025, nominated at Hollyshorts, and won Best Animation at Flickers Rhode Island Film Festival.
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Her other credits include working as an animator on the BBC nature documentary ‘Attenborough's Wonder of Song’. In 2022 she was also hired to create and direct the festival trailer for Fredrikstad Animation Festival.​In addition to her work as a filmmaker and animator, Ida has served on multiple film festival juries, using her experience and perspective to support and celebrate emerging voices in animation.
directors statement
Having found my visual style as a director on my previous animated short NIGHT OF THE LIVING DREAD, which was nominated for a BAFTA and won an Annie Award in 2022, I knew I wanted to approach OVARY-ACTING in a similar way; by combining stop motion puppets with 2D features.
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For this film, however, I wanted to challenge myself further and to go even bolder and braver with the medium. I’d always wanted to try and work with live-action puppeteering, and it felt like the musical number was the perfect fit for such a joyful, energetic and wonderfully over-the-top element of the film.
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When I was approaching my late twenties, the question of whether or not to have children became an increasingly familiar one. After several confronting and uncomfortable conversations about when I’d “finally” start having kids, I began to wonder: did I want to have kids because I wanted it, or did I want them because it was expected of me?
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At first, I thought that maybe I was overreacting. But then, one evening, I watched the Norwegian Prime Minister go on national TV and urge women to have more children, which crystallised something for me - it was in fact a societal expectation. And that realisation became the first seed for OVARY-ACTING.​
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OVARY-ACTING was truly a labour of love (excuse the pun). We worked hard on getting the tone of the film just right, using the character of Ovy to explore Eva’s inner instincts and turmoil, as well as society’s expectations of women, but always from a place of naivety, rather than judgement. The film took us four years to make, from inception of the idea to finished film, during which the global political climate shifted dramatically, and the issue of women’s reproductive rights became even more urgent. By the time we finished, the themes felt timelier than ever.
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Ultimately, OVARY-ACTING is about choice - the freedom to decide for oneself, free from pressure or expectation. I hope the film sparks meaningful conversations about bodily autonomy, identity, and the expectations placed on women and people with ovaries, while doing so in an entertaining way that makes the topic feel more accessible and approachable.
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upcoming SCREENINGS
NOV
20
rex animation festival
Stockholm, Sweden l Nordic Competition
Novemebr 20th l 20:10 l Zita 1
NOV
16
FOYLE film festival
Foyle, Northern Ireland l
TBC
CONTACT
Kjersti Greger
Producer - Norway
Michelle Brøndum
Producer - UK
Shaimaa Khan
London Flair PR
