What would you sacrifice to finally win — and what if it breathes?
Lonely schoolgirl Desma is determined to win the school science competition and beat her arch-rival, Celestine. When Desma discovers an incredible creature, an insect-boy endowed with a pair of moth-wings, she thinks victory is hers. But can Desma ignore her attacks of conscience and condemn the vulnerable moth-boy to win a competition? Or will she forfeit her dreams of glory and suffer another humiliating loss to Celestine? An enchanting short film about human connection, ruthless ambition and entomology.
Practical Effects
Mothboy's delicate wings are unsettlingly beautiful.
Acting
Flood's desperate hunger for validation stings.
Direction
Verso squeezes a feature's moral weight into 14 minutes.
Director
Nicholas Verso
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Verso originally conceived this as a feature but funding fell through; the compression arguably strengthens the moral punch.
The moth wings were hand-painted silk that took three weeks to craft for roughly four minutes of screen time.
US
AU
