Film Gallery 

Ego Death - SAIC 2020 Thesis Film

Three eyes on the back of your head. Three broken clocks in my nightmares.
A young psychiatric patient can’t sleep right and is disturbed by distressing and increasingly strange dreams. They struggle with their psychiatrist and the suggestions he gives them.

This is Z Fondanarosa's final year Undergrad Thesis Film At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
This film was recorded on hand processed 16mm film, Super 8 film, and Digital Video. The goal was to experiment with disjointed narrative and experimental film processing techniques to mimic deteriorating lucidity due to nightmare and sleep deprivation.

©Z Fondanarosa 2019-2020
Premiered in the SAIC 2020 Film, Video, New Media, Animation and Sound Festival at the Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
Second screening  in 2022 at the show "Let Them Eat Fake" at Liminal Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Dreamer Costume 

This costume was made for my most recent short film "Ego Death" 

The Dreamer costume was 100% hand sewn with out a machine. The body was made from my  Undertaker costume (featured in God Watching) with some significant changes. The shirt and skit are white cotton with synthetic lace, hand dyed with black ink and fake blood.  The corset was made using an altered free to use pattern, this was my first corset ever. It is hand sewn from black cotton and "soft boned" with cotton rope. The tassel earrings are made from embroidery floss, the blindfold is black cotton and elastic and the veil is just one yard of lace fabric pined to my skull. Modeling and makeup was done by me. 
​
Photography was taken by Slug Yoshida  

©Z Fondanarosa 2020

Nightgown Costume                 
Black and white test shot from production. These were taken to test the color translated to high contrast black and white to match our film we were using. 
This costume was made for my most recent short film "Ego Death" 
The Night Gown costume was 100% hand sewn with out a machine. The costume was made from a destroyed antique night gown. I deconstructed the usable parts and reassembled it into this costume. The red parts were dyed using a mix of beet root, prickly pear and fake blood dye I made. The only parts not made from the gown was the wig, tights and ballet shoes. 

Photography was taken by Jules Cunningham 

©Z Fondanarosa 2020

Βλέποντας τον Θεό (God Watching)


​Based on a reoccurring nightmare...  

This is my final film I did for my fall 2018 semester at SAIC. This film is a semi narrative look into continuous night terrors I was suffering from in the beginning of August through November of 2018 that featured me vividly facing my own mortality.  This film is partly digital and partly 16mm, it features costumes I designed and made by hand, and a unique soundtrack by my brother Milo Sebastian  

Writer / Director / Editor / Muse: Z Fondanarosa 
Producers: Z Fondananrosa + Ray Tang 
Director of Photography: Ray Tang
Assistant Camera: Robert Schuler
Music: Milo Sebastian ( Spotify )
Special Thanks to: Chase Pottinger + Slug Yoshida 
 
 ©Z Fondanarosa 2018-19 

Nymph Costume

This costume was made for my most recent short film "God Watching/ βλέποντας τον Θεό" 

The Nymph costume was made from unbleached muslin and hand sewn with embroidery thread. It was dyed with homemade pomegranate die, beet juice, and grape juice. The patterns were made by and tailored to me. Horns are from a real deer, tassel earrings were made from embroidery floss. Accents include safety pins, deer tooth necklace, and a pomegranate. Modeling and makeup was done by me. 

Photography was taken by Ray Tang

2018 

Nymph (On set Chicago, IL)

These shots were taken in late October in front of Lake Michigan and I was so cold. These are my favorite shots and this was by far the best time filming. This would not have been possible without my two lovely friends Ray and Bobby. 

Photography was taken by Ray Tang
​
2018 

Nymph (After Purification)

This is taken after I have been spit on and covered in copious amounts of red liquid (juice)  and after pomegranate has stained the fabric.

Photography was taken by Ray Tang

2018 

Undertaker Costume

The undertaker costume was made from white bleached muslin and hand sewn with embroidery thread. The accents are made from red velvet. The patterns were made by and tailored to me. Modeling and makeup was done by me. 

Photography was taken by Ray Tang
​
2018 

Kelvin [Stop-motion Animation]


Almost a whole 3 months in the making my stop motion final Kelvin is finally complete! I may add a BW version at some point but for now here is what I produced for my animation final   
Story/ puppets/ set/ animation/ editing were all done by me   

​Tools used:  
Dragonframe at 12 fps  
Canon 7D  
Nikon 25mm manual lens  
Canon 20mm manual lens  
Nikon 150mm manual lens  
After Effects and Primer for editing   
Music used: Nocturne No. 1 In B Flat Minor by Frédéric Chopin recorded from a 40 year old cassette  

House Out of Time

An experiment in frame rate, film, performance, and time.

Writing/ Concept: Nat Wood, Z Fondanarosa, Karenna Northland
Directed by: Z Fondanarosa
Director of Photography: Nat Wood
Medium: 16mm Color Film shot with a Bolex 16mm film camera

Choreography:  Karenna Northland
Music: Milo Sebastian (Spotify)
Editing: Z Fondanarosa
Performance: Karenna Northland + Chas Druin

Running Out of Time


100 feet of Digitized 16mm Black and White film. All edits in this film were done in camera by me. This footage has not been edited at all from its original form.  

Starring: Leah Silver
Writing/Director: Z Fondanarosa
Camera: Sofia Higgins
AC: Chanina Katz