Password: Aphelion-film
A queer sci-fi animated film: space adventure, the sublimity of simple pleasures, finding love and optimism in an existential void.
Aphelion earned the Animated Arts Department Senior Award at PNCA, and screened at Cinespace 2018 with the Houston Cinematic Arts Society.
A queer sci-fi animated film: space adventure, the sublimity of simple pleasures, finding love and optimism in an existential void.
Aphelion earned the Animated Arts Department Senior Award at PNCA, and screened at Cinespace 2018 with the Houston Cinematic Arts Society.
I worked on this film during my thesis year at Pacific Northwest College of Art, from September 2017-April 2018, starting with the idea of finding the sublime in small things. I researched the use of science fiction as a narrative device, looking at Ursula Le Guin and Nnedi Okorafor for their nuanced, multi-dimensional views of speculative stories, using myth and metaphor to tie fantastical worlds to real-life dilemmas.
Science fiction and animation both have the possibility for endless possibilities, but mainstream media is exhaustively repetitive. I wanted to play with what kind of hopeful, critically optimistic story I could make, using visibly queer characters, and a quest to uncover mysteries without fear or hatred.
Science fiction and animation both have the possibility for endless possibilities, but mainstream media is exhaustively repetitive. I wanted to play with what kind of hopeful, critically optimistic story I could make, using visibly queer characters, and a quest to uncover mysteries without fear or hatred.