Writer, Director, Editor and Composer: Dimitri Simakis
Starring: Thu Tran, Heather Lawless, James Urbaniak, David Brown, and global rapper Fat Tony
Run time: 13 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English
Sundance US Narrative Short Film—Midnight Shorts
Tina and her elderly dog visit a mysterious clinic offering human-to-pet communication. Two sinister doctors uncover an otherworldly bond between them that transcends time and space. They might be the key to something greater... but at what cost?
Tina (Thu Tran) and her elderly dog, MeeMoo (voiced by Fat Tony), visit "Rainbow Bridge Enterprises," a mysterious clinic offering human-to-pet communication. The esoteric Dr. Bailey Picadillo (Heather Lawless) and her burnout partner, Herb (James Urbaniak ), detect a cosmically strong bond between their new patients, triggering a journey across time and space where Tina and MeeMoo can properly say goodbye in their final, fantastical forms. Chaos ensues as Tina is abruptly thrust back to reality while MeeMoo is left behind in the transcendental Rainbow Realm. Tina may feel a bittersweet sense of relief, but Dr. Bailey gets more than she bargained for when the fabric of reality might have just split wide open…
Sundance In-Person Screening Times Premiere Monday, January 22nd at 10pm MST in the Midnight Shorts program at the Ray in Park City
Friday, Jan 26th at 9pm MST in the Midnight Shorts program at the Gateway 6 in SLC
Saturday, Jan 27th at 4:30pm MST in the Midnight Shorts program at the Holiday 1 in Park City
About the Filmmakers
Dimitri Simakis is a filmmaker, musician, illustrator and co-creator of the found-footage collectives Everything Is Terrible! & the slightly more terrifying, Memory Hole. The EIT! collective has made 8 feature length found-footage films and has toured North America regularly for the past thirteen years. Simakis’ background in immersive storytelling is seen by millions at Pizza Pals Playzone, on permanent exhibition at Meow Wolf’s Convergence Station in Denver, CO. Simakis is currently the Creative Director for GIPHY, the world’s largest GIF library on the internet. Producer Suki-Rose is a director, producer, multidisciplinary artist and co-founder of Spooky Kind Productions alongside Dimitri Simakis. Suki-Rose is a former Disney Imagineer, former creative executive for SpectreVision, videogame designer, miniaturist & fabricator. Her short films (Ding-Dong, Teddy Too-Big, CHOMP) all blend her unique approach to the uncanny and the absurd. Dimitri Simakis & Suki-Rose have been generating creative work in tandem for over 10 years – showing audiences and Hollywood that they are filmmakers’ to watch.
“The Rainbow Bridge” is a Sci-Fi fantasy comedy and in many ways a cinematic sibling in spirit to 80’s fantasies like “The NeverEnding Story,” delving deeply into the bonds we have with our pets addressing themes of loss, denial and acceptance, through the lens of one woman’s esoteric journey. The filmmakers tackle such tragic loss through a fantastical, silly and thoroughly entertaining lens. The filmmakers world building creates an homage to 80’s cinema that is both grounded and brilliantly bonkers all at the same time.
Writer, Director, Editor and Composer: Dimitri Simakis
Starring: Thu Tran, Heather Lawless, James Urbaniak, David Brown, and global rapper Fat Tony
Run time: 13 minutes
Producers: Suki-Rose and Michael Scott
Cinematographer: Seannie Bryan
Production designers: Courtney Andujar and Hillary Andujar