DOCUMENTARY SHORTS BLOCK
Emily Morus-Jones’ documentary short is an absurdist and colorful look at a subset of society that is often misunderstood and demonized by the public. She emphasizes the inherent prejudice of said subset by exploring their world through mice. Mice are some of the more misunderstood animals and through great puppetry, we learn about the lifestyles of the polyamorous.
“Diomysus” is a comedy-documentary where a group of mice (voiced by members of the UK polyamorous community whose identities are masked using puppetry) discuss their experiences of polyamory. Diomysus asks the question – are we (the audience) more open to taboo ideas if unconscious bias is eliminated? A lot about the identities of the subjects interviewed are kept secret, and for good reason.
While the puppets allow us a unique view, we’re also able to relate to the individuals through animals that are often shun and pushed in to corners. While the centerpiece is the well made puppets, “Diomysus” is primarily about the polyamorous lifestyle, the practice of acquiring more than one romantic partner for committed relationships. We get to learn a lot about the polyamorous lifestyle including how they think, their approach toward multiple relationships, the idea of polygamy, and how they deal with stigmas about the way they interpret relationships.
They’re not bad people, nor perverse people, just people that consider committing to relationships and romance different than what is considered the norm in most social climates. There’s also a lot of charm behind the puppetry with most of the characters depicted through mice, all of whom have their own environments and principles in regards to sex and love. I appreciated Emily Morus-Jones’ approach to such an interesting topic about sexuality and could have easily seen a feature length version on this topic with the same concept.
The Slamdance Film Festival runs Digitally and In-Person from January 20th to January 29th.