Adelaide Film Festival: Lesbian Space Princess
Film name: Lesbian Space Princess
Hub rating: ★★★★★
Director: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese
Country: Australia
Classification: Unclassified 15+
Link: https://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/program/2024/lesbian-space-princess
Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese are breaking new ground with their brand new sci-fi comedy, Lesbian Space Princess, which is the first ever fully animated feature film to come out of South Australia. Not only is Lesbian Space Princess a milestone in South Australian filmmaking history it has also managed to completely sell out all three of its premiere screenings as a part of the Adelaide Film Festival. Lesbian Space Princess jumps into the world of the introverted space princess Saira right after being dumped by her girlfriend, Kiki. But after Kiki is kidnapped by the Straight White Maliens, Saira makes it her mission to travel the gay-laxy to save Kiki and on the way finds her self-confidence.
Living in a world where being queer is cool and straight men are cast to the side, Lesbian Space Princess is full of humour and colour - there is never a dull moment. The animation style of this film is vibrant and fun with the use of a bright colour palette that reflects the humour of the movie. The literal humour with things such as the Straight White Maliens literally being straight, white rectangles to represent straight white males, gained a great response from the audience. The film, pointing fun and highlighting all the weird things that straight people, particularly straight white males, do and say was ingenious. Not only did the film tackle themes of gender and sexual diversity with grace and humour it also played into themes of mental health, with Saira suffering from low self-esteem and anxiety. Lesbian Space Princess demonstrated genuine diversity to its fullest not only on the screen but also behind the screen with all those being involved in the creation of the film.
The film also includes some pretty big names including Gemma Chua-Tran from the 2022 reboot of Heartbreak High played Willow, and Kween Kong from Ru Paul’s Drag Race who played Blade.
The way the story of Saira’s self-discovery was told, the incredible diversity shown, and the hilarious jokes every second of the film created such a wonderful atmosphere in the cinema. This film embraces LGBTQAI+ and diverse voices and is full of colour and life. If you have not seen it, it needs to be at the top of your bucket list.