Kickstart This! Zsazsa Zaturnnah: An Animated Queer SuperHero Film

A few years ago we covered Hayop Ka! (aka You Animal) an excellent Filipino adult romantic comedy. Outside of a few festival screenings, unfortunately, the film never really made it to the west. The film's director Avid Liongoren and Rocketsheep Studios are back with a LGBTQ+ superhero comedy, and this time they're turning to crowdfunding! 

Zsazsa Zaturnnah follows Ada, a shy gay man living in a quiet village in the Philippines. After having his heart broken too many times, he resolves himself to a simple and single life. That is until a mysterious rock crashes to earth, and transforms himself into the super-powered and super-fabulous female superhero Zsazsa Zaturnnah. Ada's village suddenly becomes a magnet for the superstrange, from giant squid attacks, to zombies to invading Amazonistas from Planet X. And can he face the even bigger challenge of opening his heart to love once again?

The film is based on a comic-book series, which has already been adapted into a live-action low-budget film and a long-running musical stage show. Rocketsheep are seeking to produce an 80-minute feature within two years. This will be their third feature film overall.

Zsazsa Zaturnnah is seeking to reach an international audience, and is therefore an English-language production. It hopes to reach fans of super-hero media (who don't mind a little poking fun at it), and those seeking more LGBTQ+ representation.

The team has been at work on the film for four years. But when they have attempted to secure funding, they have been told the same thing time and time again: "the project is really cool but the market for it is too niche." LGBTQ+ content is still censored in many places, and in some countries, it is still illegal to be gay. And hence... the studio has turned to crowdfunding to try and help make the project a reality.

While their main goal is to tell a funny and heartwarming LGBTQ tale, their secondary ambition is to showcase Filipino animation to the world. While the Philippines is used by many countries to produce service work, it is not as well known for producing original Filipino work. Less than a dozen animated features have been produced in the entire hundred years of Filipino cinema. With this film, Rocketsheep hope that will begin to change.

The film is written by Carlo Vergara, who also wrote the original Zsazsa Zaturnnah comic back in 2002. It will be directed by Avid Liongoren, and will be co-produced by Hannah Liongoren.

A $1.00 donation will get you a selection of wallpapers, or $5.00 for a digital screenplay. $25.00 will get you a digital artbook, a digital graphic novel and six short films from the studio. $100 will get you drawn into the film as a townsfolk, of for $250.00 as a zombie.

The project is seeking $40,000 and will run until September 4. If you want to help make it happen, visit the project page today.