Stella Bastart
MFA ’25 Film/Video
My work is an act of destruction and creation—a way to carve out meaning, release emotion, and reconstruct memory. Scratching directly onto 16mm film allows me to embody my emotions in a physical way, whether aggressive, meditative, or playful. I believe in destruction not only as a means of making but as a way of healing.
Language itself plays a key role in my work—sarcasm, word games, and double meanings weave through my imagery, often inviting discomfort with a layer of humor and innocence. Words like Evil Evol Love, I Like You, You Lick Me, Smile, This Is The End, Choke Me, reflect the instability of language and identity, fractured and reconstructed in the aftermath of trauma.
My work exists in these in-between spaces: between humor and despair, violence and tenderness. It is a continuous research, shifting with time and experience, a persistent search for meaning in the process of creation and destruction.
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Stella Bastart is an international filmmaker and transdisciplinary artist, currently based between Boston, MA, and Provence, France. Her practice centers on the destruction and creation of meaning through experimental film, sound, and visual art. By scratching directly onto 16mm film, she transforms trauma into visceral, rhythmic compositions that reflect both emotional release and healing. She explores themes of pain, survival, and identity, using language, subversion, and wordplay to engage with the complexities of human experience.
