Redemption instead of employment? This intense sci-fi short flips the job-interview trope on its head. 🎬

Let’s talk character real quick! Who is Annie, why is her story worth being told?

Annie: Late 20s. African American. Annie is a driven young woman whose goal is to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. She’s ambitious, talented, and incredibly intelligent, but is held back by her sensitive and emotional nature. Upon being offered the opportunity, she experiences auditory/visual episodes of fear triggered by the unsettling realization she might be following too closely in her late astronaut father’s footsteps.

Annie is an incredibly important character to me because I see her overtime I look at my wonderfully talented friends. They too are intelligent and ambitious, but suffer from the fear of “not being enough” to be successful. Annie embodies that which we all face when we’re young adults. She asks whether a life of regret is better than a life of taking risks. 

Annie sees her confidence knocked out of her and yearns for a sign to show her what decision she should make about her future. Yet the signs that leak into her world crush her with uncertainty and fear. Despite this, Annie is reminded of her purpose, despite the dark images that share her reality, she chooses to rely on herself, her dreams, and her family. Sometimes we have to hold onto to the child within us and ignore the rational adult begging for a safe, mundane existence.

When Annie is introduced into Twinkle, we see the moments leading up to her death. While imminent, Annie faces her death with a peace because she has achieved what her heart has desired. Selfish perhaps, but living a purposeless life can lead to a self destruction worse than death. Annie chooses to let the physical world rule her mortal fate, instead of succumbing to the dreadful imaginations of the future she sees. Because of this, her immortal soul is preserved. 

Annie’s imaginations of her death manifest through lighting and sound. The sound and lights that foretell her doom flash around her earthly home prompting a deep sense of terror that threatens to drown her in a cold sea of uncertainty. The lights flash red over her face, a color not seen in her planetary inhabitancies. The alarm sounds loud, harsh against the water color, tonal simplicity of her familiar world. Both these serve as tools to invade, yet it is when Annie is seen in the cockpit, the world feels most real. For this is the place she has chosen to be, the moment when her fears of the future are realized and accepted for what it is. Life always ends in death and for Annie, death in pursuit of love (of dreams) makes life much more valuable.