Directors PETTER RINGBOM, MARQUISE STILLWELL (US, Sweden) 97 min

For most of her life, Nellie Mae Rowe made art in obscurity in her home in rural Georgia. There were dolls, vibrant crayon works on paper, chewing-gum sculptures, and elaborate found-object garlands hanging from the trees — an elaborate, miniature world that Rowe, who grew up poor and uneducated, built by hand against all odds. Then, just six years before her death, she was discovered by a wealthy New York city gallerist who introduced her art to the world. Directors Petter Ringbom and Marquise Stillwell immerse the viewer in Rowe’s visual universe, mixing traditional documentary techniques with vibrant animation and scripted reenactments on intricately detailed sets to bring her dynamic story to life. By carefully delving into the personal and political events that shaped her life’s work, This World is Not My Own maps out the extraordinary journey and legacy of a self-taught maker who struggled to dedicate herself to art, with dazzling results.