A window into emotions and memories, the objects that occupy our personal space tell complex stories about those who inhabit them. As the only space we have influence over in our early years, a teenager’s bedroom can offer a stark depiction of the adolescent experience, lived out through mementos, collaged over time.

Capturing a mosaic of moments from a single perspective, director Pippa Molony documents a teenage girl’s bedroom as a landscape for change and emotional development in short film Clara’s Room. Through awkward romances, ritualistic tasks, and familial tension, the film explores the scenarios that shape the adults we become, with these four walls as the starting point for identities in shift.

Casting real-life mother and daughter Clara and Aisling Cronin, alongside Clara’s friend Blaithin Ward, and then-boyfriend Karim Tamu – both actors –, Molony blurs real relationships with fictionalized encounters, layering authentic depth into scenes communicated without dialogue. Reinforced by the bedroom’s interior and the tapestry of experiences that contribute to its creation, Clara’s Room reflects the small fragments that hold cumulative significance, and the emotional weight held by built environments as we move through life.