Fantasy Of Companionship Between Human and Inanimate is a 14-minute animated short film written by Susan Lim, Christina Teenz Tan and Thomas Z. Shepard.
It's the story of a small lion whose soul, once flown from his body, finds a home in the body of a small stuffed lion, which will become the little girl Chistina's best friend. Christina will take care of him, she will call him Alan, and she will not abandon him even when, now grown up, has to leave home to go to college to become a scientist. And it is precisely here that Alan decides to entrust his body and soul to a scientific project to acquire a synthetic DNA that will allow him to transport himself and have artificial intelligence.
The illustrations chosen by the directors (Susan Lim herself, Samudra Kajal Saikia, and Christina Teenz Tan) are realistic but at the same time retain a fairytale atmosphere, also enhanced by the narration of the voice over by Adrian Peacock who, together with the perfect soundtrack (created by Manu Martin, Joi Barua, Ron J Danziger, and Matthieu Eymard with the super well known and awarded Stefano Civetta and Greg Calibi as sound engineers) offers 14 minutes of story in which the audience can dream with the characters through the numerous settings, ranging from the jungle of Tanzania to California, from exteriors to interiors, from days to nights.
This short movie is also a tribute to science, an additional attribute to be considered precious, especially in this historical period in which science is considered fundamental (it is no wonder that Susan Lim, writer and director of the short movie, is also a scientist herself).
And it is precisely the combination of dream and science that makes this work extremely original and necessary.
Science has always embodied rationality but we rarely focus on the most important characteristic that unites all scientists: imagination.
And imagination is the main ingredient that dreamers are made of.