Director/Producer Bio
Ari Moretz is a multi-disciplinary visual artist, filmmaker, and writer whose work is deeply rooted in personal healing and empowerment. As a cancer survivor living with HyperPOTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome), and CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome), Ari uses her art to navigate her own challenges while striving to inspire and support others facing similar battles. Through her creativity, Ari seeks to foster connection, resilience, and joy within the chronic illness community and find strength in the process of self-discovery and healing.
Ari Moretz is a multi-disciplinary visual artist, filmmaker, and writer whose work is deeply rooted in personal healing and empowerment. As a cancer survivor living with HyperPOTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome), and CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome), Ari uses her art to navigate her own challenges while striving to inspire and support others facing similar battles. Through her creativity, Ari seeks to foster connection, resilience, and joy within the chronic illness community and find strength in the process of self-discovery and healing.
Bubble Insanity
A short film that exploring the impact of mental health struggles like CPTSD, in addition to the affects of the confines of isolation. Bubble Insanity dives into how seclusion exacerbates the challenges faced by individuals battling mental health issues, like the unseen emotional toll of illness.
Director Statement:
Chronic illness often takes a profound toll on mental health, especially when it comes to complex post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the medical system. The isolation it brings can slowly lead one into an unstable, overwhelming state. *Bubble Insanity* is a film that explores mental health and isolation through the perspective of a woman living within the confines of a "bubble" lifestyle. As she grapples with the challenges of seclusion and self-doubt, the film delves into the emotional complexities of navigating a world where the boundaries between the mind and reality begin to blur.
Director Statement:
Chronic illness often takes a profound toll on mental health, especially when it comes to complex post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the medical system. The isolation it brings can slowly lead one into an unstable, overwhelming state. *Bubble Insanity* is a film that explores mental health and isolation through the perspective of a woman living within the confines of a "bubble" lifestyle. As she grapples with the challenges of seclusion and self-doubt, the film delves into the emotional complexities of navigating a world where the boundaries between the mind and reality begin to blur.
Contemplation
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Internal Battle
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Lingering Death
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Mental Mutilation
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Screaming Inside
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Self Mutilation CPTSD
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This film was created for:
Bubble Insanity 2
In this haunting sequel, Bubble Insanity 2 dives deeper into the internal struggle of living with mental illness. Trapped within a surreal, shifting inner world, the protagonist confronts their own fractured thoughts and memories. As isolation turns inward, the film explores the looping nature of trauma and the quiet resilience it takes to face oneself. A poetic, visual meditation on the unseen battles of the mind.
Director Statement:
Bubble Insanity 2 is a deeply personal exploration of what it means to live inside your own mind when that space feels both unfamiliar and inescapable. With this sequel, I wanted to move beyond the external isolation portrayed in the first film and turn the lens inward—toward the emotional and psychological cycles that often go unseen.
Mental illness, especially conditions like CPTSD, isn’t always loud. Often, it’s quiet, recursive, and invisible to others—a constant negotiation with your own memories, thoughts, and the spaces between. This film uses surreal, shifting visuals to reflect that inner experience—the way a room can shrink with anxiety, or how a single thought can echo endlessly in silence.
Director Statement:
Bubble Insanity 2 is a deeply personal exploration of what it means to live inside your own mind when that space feels both unfamiliar and inescapable. With this sequel, I wanted to move beyond the external isolation portrayed in the first film and turn the lens inward—toward the emotional and psychological cycles that often go unseen.
Mental illness, especially conditions like CPTSD, isn’t always loud. Often, it’s quiet, recursive, and invisible to others—a constant negotiation with your own memories, thoughts, and the spaces between. This film uses surreal, shifting visuals to reflect that inner experience—the way a room can shrink with anxiety, or how a single thought can echo endlessly in silence.
MCAS
A stop-motion animated short film that brings visibility to Mast Cell Activation Syndrome—a chronic and often misunderstood condition. Through striking visuals and intimate storytelling, the film explores how MCAS impacts nearly every system in the body, conveying the daily toll on the person impacted by MCAS.
Director Statement:
MCAS was born from a place of both urgency and empathy. Mast Cell Activation Syndrome is a complex, often invisible illness that disrupts nearly every system in the body, yet it remains widely misunderstood—even by many in the medical community.
Through this film, I wanted to give voice and shape to what is typically unseen.
Stop-motion felt like the right medium to tell this story. The daily fear of the unpredictability and fragility of living with MCAS is evident in every frame of the painstakingly Claymation which echoes the painstaking reality of managing a condition where the body turns against itself without warning.
This film is not just about symptoms; it’s about the emotional landscape that comes with them: the isolation, the fear, the resilience. It’s an attempt to bridge the gap between what’s felt and what’s visible—to help audiences understand, even briefly, what it means to live inside a body that doesn't always feel like your own.
I hope MCAS fosters awareness, compassion, and a deeper recognition of those fighting quiet, invisible battles every day.
Director Statement:
MCAS was born from a place of both urgency and empathy. Mast Cell Activation Syndrome is a complex, often invisible illness that disrupts nearly every system in the body, yet it remains widely misunderstood—even by many in the medical community.
Through this film, I wanted to give voice and shape to what is typically unseen.
Stop-motion felt like the right medium to tell this story. The daily fear of the unpredictability and fragility of living with MCAS is evident in every frame of the painstakingly Claymation which echoes the painstaking reality of managing a condition where the body turns against itself without warning.
This film is not just about symptoms; it’s about the emotional landscape that comes with them: the isolation, the fear, the resilience. It’s an attempt to bridge the gap between what’s felt and what’s visible—to help audiences understand, even briefly, what it means to live inside a body that doesn't always feel like your own.
I hope MCAS fosters awareness, compassion, and a deeper recognition of those fighting quiet, invisible battles every day.
Stop Motion Animation
Still From: "Life in the Bubble: Learn to Love Yourself"
Still From: "Life in The Bubble: Mast Cell Degranulation"
Still From: "Life in The Bubble: Fiona and Ari"
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Still From: "Life in the Bubble: Mast Cells in the Body"
Still From: "Life in The Bubble: Mast Cell Attacking Me"
Still From: "Life in The Bubble: Brain Fog"
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Still From: "Life in The Bubble: Bone Pain"
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Still From: "Life in the Bubble: Histamine Bucket"
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"Life in the Bubble: A Stop Motion Journey"
Creating the stop-motion animation for Life in the Bubble allowed me to express my pain
and isolation in a deeply personal way. The process of working with clay figures provided a
tactile outlet for emotions that were difficult to articulate with words. Stop motion, with its slow
and meticulous nature, became a way for me to confront my inner world frame by frame.
Each clay figure I sculpted represented an emotion or experience I struggled to express,
and through this, I could channel my feelings of being trapped in a bubble, disconnected from the
outside world. The act of molding the clay felt grounding—it gave me a sense of control over my
emotions while allowing me to shape them into something tangible.
Animating the figures, frame by frame, mirrored the process of working through my own
emotional journey. It was a therapeutic release, where each movement and expression in the
animation conveyed a part of my struggle. The stop-motion process became a safe space to
process isolation, pain, and the complexity of emotions, while also allowing me to create and
transform my experiences into a visual form. Through this medium, I found healing and a way to
express what words could not.
Creating the stop-motion animation for Life in the Bubble allowed me to express my pain
and isolation in a deeply personal way. The process of working with clay figures provided a
tactile outlet for emotions that were difficult to articulate with words. Stop motion, with its slow
and meticulous nature, became a way for me to confront my inner world frame by frame.
Each clay figure I sculpted represented an emotion or experience I struggled to express,
and through this, I could channel my feelings of being trapped in a bubble, disconnected from the
outside world. The act of molding the clay felt grounding—it gave me a sense of control over my
emotions while allowing me to shape them into something tangible.
Animating the figures, frame by frame, mirrored the process of working through my own
emotional journey. It was a therapeutic release, where each movement and expression in the
animation conveyed a part of my struggle. The stop-motion process became a safe space to
process isolation, pain, and the complexity of emotions, while also allowing me to create and
transform my experiences into a visual form. Through this medium, I found healing and a way to
express what words could not.
