Mathilde Heuliez (*1999, France) is an artist and filmmaker currently based in Los Angeles, where she pursues an MFA in Film at CalArts. Her practice exists at the crossroads of experimental video, narrative cinema, and editorial work. Several themes intertwine in her work, with a focus on the disconnection between physical and mental spaces –  notably influenced by images. Her work explores mechanisms of escapism that develop when finding oneself within this gap, where the mind, nourished only by ideals, attempts to disengage from an ontologically situated body.

Her filmic practice is therefore driven by a strong desire to emphasise the situatedness of the points of view she depicts. She’s interested in underlining the filming tools and techniques she uses by means of jumps, transformations and switches between different perspectives. By shifting from the inner gaze of the protagonist to a shot taken from a high up building and coming back to a microscopic view of a gutter, she aims to highlight the perpetual interchanges arising in the physical realm and the absurdity of static depictions of the self. By depicting fleeing characters, she also underlines the unbearability of being confined to a single image and the need to constantly break away and question this framing. The body in her films is inherently fluid, it is not a closed-off capsule, detached and classifiable, but an amount of matter and energy constantly in exchange with its surroundings. These surroundings – which become characters in their own right – play, in return, a crucial role in emphasizing the protagonist's desire to transcend physical boundaries. This ambition for fusion is driven by both a desire to escape constricting structures and a search for support in imagination — a space that exceeds the body while remaining intrinsically connected to it.

Mathilde has curated various exhibitions and screenings in Amsterdam and Berlin and initiated the literary anthology Sore in November 2022.