Unique Family Dramedy STOP-MOTION to Screen at La Femme
3 min read
Photograph by Ashley Garrett
A stage play with stop motion intertwined
Los Angeles, CA (October 13, 2025) Stop-Motion is a multi-media feature-length filmed stage play interwoven with stop motion animation. This unique family dramedy is written by Liz Kerin, directed by Ludovica Villar-Hauser, and stars Emily Batsford (Nightwing Escalation), Paula Ewin, Meghann Garmany, Emily Keefe (Internedium), Finn Kilgore (The Adventures of Lord Dinby Whitherspoon – Duke of Space), and Jak Watson (The Thing with Jed) and features animation by Nisha Ramnath.
Produced by New York based Parity Productions, Stop-Motion screening at LA Femme International Film Festival on October 18th at Noon at LA Live Regal Cinema.
Stop-Motion occupies the space between tragedy and comedy, family drama and magical escape. Xan, who spent her 20s acting as her mother’s sole caretaker, must navigate the aftermath of a terrible accident (as well as some long-neglected family relationships). Privately, she reveals herself to us through a whimsical stop-motion film she’s been working on while contending with grief, duty, and the limits of escapism. Stop-Motion probes the idea of how an individual – and a family – can evolve in the face of tragedy and perhaps, move forward together – even if it’s one frame at a time.
A front row seat
“Stop-Motion is an important storytelling format that I hope to see more of: a high production-value film that gives you a front row seat to theater that you would not have otherwise had access to. The animation, narration and performances are all thoughtfully interwoven into a beautifully unique experience,” says Bridget Stokes, Emmy-winning writer/director and Parity Productions board member.
Parity is the only New York theatre company that ensures it fills at least 90% of the creative roles —playwrights, directors, and designers— with women, trans, gender-expansive, and intersex artists and offers free tools to encourage the rest of the theatre industry to do the same.
The Filmmakers
Ludovica Villar-Hauser (she/her) is the Founder and Artistic Director of Parity Productions, where she directs full productions and readings/workshops yearly. Other directing (selected): Final Analysis (Signature Theatre); The Countess (Lamb’s Theatre); As It Is in Heaven (The Cherry Lane); This Will All Be Yours (The Barrow Group Theatre); Long Day’s Journey Into Night on London’s West End. Ludovica was one of the few women to own and operate her own theatre in NYC, The Greenwich Street Theatre, which she did for 17 years. Ludovica served on the Board of the League of Professional Theatre Women from 2009-2018, is the Producer of the Oral History Project, and was co-President from 2022-2023.
Liz Kerin (she/her) is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and author, who earned her degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Most recently, Liz inked a two-book deal with Tor Nightfire/Macmillan for her Night’s Edge, and her first book, The Phantom Forest, was released in 2019. Playwriting honors include The Kennedy Center, Premiere Stages at Kean, Theatricum Botanicum, The Road Theatre, FringeNYC, and Unicorn Theatre. Her play Stop-Motion was awarded the 2018 Parity Commission. On the film and television side, she was chosen for the 2016 Hit List and the Young and Hungry List, which names the top up-and-coming screenwriters in the industry. She is developing a feature film with Imagine Entertainment as well as a television series based on her forthcoming books. For more, please visit www.LizKerin.com
Nisha Ramnath (she/her) is an animator that works in stop-motion and laser animation. She earned a BFA in Animation from the Maryland Institute College of Art and currently runs her own design firm that produces animated shorts and content for the Laser Light Show Industry. Her style of animation is DIY, making set and puppets out of common objects.
Screening information
Stop-Motion will screen on Saturday, October 18th at noon, at the Regal Cinemas at LA Live, 1000 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, 90015 Find tickets HERE.
*Information courtesy LA Media Consultants. Check out their website LAMediaConsultants.com
