Lesbian Space Princess Comes To The UK and Ireland This May

Bluey aside, we don't see that much animation come out of Australia. Animated features are even rarer. But one Aussie animated movie recently found success on the festival circuit. That movie is Lesbian Space Princess, and Pecadillo Pictures have announced that it's coming to UK and Irish cinema screens from May 22.

The film received its world premiere at last year's Berlin Film Festival, where it went on to win the Teddy award. It also won the Audience Award for Best Australian Feature at the Sydney Film Festival.

The sci-fi comedy is written and directed by Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs. Described as "a riotous, candy-coloured joy from start to finish", Lesbian Space Princess is an animation made by emerging talents and which embraces LGBTQIA+ and culturally diverse voices both on and off-screen.

Lesbian Space Princess features the voices of Shabana Azeez, Bernie Van Tiel , Gemma Chua Tran , Aunty Donna, Richard Roxburgh, Jordan Raskopolous, Madeleine Sami  and Kween Kong .

The official synopsis reads:

Daughter to the flamboyant lesbian Queens of Planet Clitopolis, introverted Princess Saira is devastated when her bounty-hunter girlfriend, Kiki, suddenly breaks up with her for being too needy.

After Kiki is kidnapped by forgotten incels of the future, the Straight White Maliens, Saira must leave the comforts of gay space to deliver their ransom: her royal labrys (the most powerful weapon known to lesbian kind). Only problem is… she doesn’t have it!

With just a 24-hour window to get her labrys and save Kiki, Princess Saira finds herself on an inter-gay-lactic journey of self-discovery that includes encounters with a problematic spaceship and a new-found friendship with gay-pop runaway Willow.

The writer-directors describe the film as "an ode to low-budget anime, a hilarious love letter to lesbians and most importantly - heaps of fun." They cite their influences as "cartoons like Adventure Time" but say the editing and coverage more closely resemble anime hits like Revolutionary Girl Utena. They describe it as campy and comedic, but with an undercurrent of cheeky and incisive political commentary. The film centers complex queer women of colour characters and brings genuineness with authentic casting.

The directing duo bring their respective backgrounds in animation/production design and musical comedy to give them a strong foundation for achieveing their ambitions of compelling visuals and strong comedic performances. They say "We will create a film that brings an authentic new voice that women, the queer community and people of colour deserve."

Lesbian Space Princess was released in cinemas in the US last October, and on digital shortly after.

Check out the trailer, below.