Studio’s 6-minute 2D short explores mental health with a story of 4 neighbors whose emotional struggles take on the physical forms of creatures they attempt to conceal; world premiere set for May 3 at Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
Supernova Design has just shared with AWN the exclusive first look at the teaser trailer for their new 2D animated short film, Creatures of Chaos, that explores mental health through the studio's vibrant, imaginative style of storytelling.
The 6-minute short was created by Asavari Kumar and Shaivalini Kumar, the studio’s co-founders, and will have its world premiere May 3 at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, being held at the AMC Atlantic Times Square 14, 450 N Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA.
Supernova Design, a POC women-led creative studio, has produced numerous award-winning projects for Warner Animation Group, Google, YouTube, Headspace, and Snapchat. Its independent work explores themes of mental health, diaspora, and cultural identity through innovative visual storytelling.
In the film, four neighbors discover that their emotional struggles take on physical forms —creatures they attempt to conceal. As these creatures grow larger and more disruptive, an unexpected encounter reveals that they are not alone in their experiences. Inspired by conversations about the dismissal of mental health in South Asian communities, this animated short explores the universal nature of emotional challenges. Through vibrant collage-inspired animation, it encourages open dialogue about the hidden struggles we all carry.
Asavari Kumar directs from a story by Asavari Kumar and Shaivalini Kumar. The film is produced and art directed by Siddharth Zutshi and Asavari Kumar.
According to the filmmakers, the production began with an “unconventional spark” — ceramic creatures sculpted by the director at her local pottery studio. These became emotional blueprints for characters representing different psychological struggles. Initially planned as a blend of augmented reality with live-action backgrounds and animated characters in real spaces, production shifted to a collage-inspired visual style that better captured the surreal, fragmented experience of internal chaos.
Their unconventional approach meant they built environments around character expressions rather than fitting characters into environments, inverting the traditional animation pipeline. The visual shift embraced texture, layering, and imperfection to reflect the film's emotional essence. Creatures of Chaos portrays the messy, nonlinear process of healing and community connection, observing the emotional burdens we carry in today's complex world.
As a filmmaker exploring the space between cultural identities, Creatures of Chaos emerged from observing the emotional burdens we carry in today's complex world,” shared Asavari Kumar. “Amid heightened collective anxiety, mental health stigmas persist across communities, including the South Asian contexts I grew up in, where emotional struggles are often dismissed beneath expectations of resilience. This animated short transform’s hidden emotional burdens into physical creatures — manifestations of our characters that desperately try to conceal.”
The director adds that the production team used collage-inspired animation to create “a tangible visual language for the invisible weight many carry silently, whether from cultural taboos, societal pressures, or modern disconnection. The four neighbors in the story represent different facets of emotional struggle, yet their journey reveals a timeless truth: we are not alone in our chaos. In an era where empathy seems scarce and performance replaces presence, their discovery reminds us of our shared humanity.”
While drawing from specific South Asian contexts, the film's message transcends cultural boundaries. “The creatures may take different forms, but they represent universal struggles in a world that rarely makes space for vulnerability,” Asavari Kumar concludes. “Creatures of Chaos is ultimately about empathy and the transformative power of shared vulnerability. When our characters finally see each other's creatures, their isolation dissolves into community — a visual metaphor for the healing that becomes possible when we truly see others and allow ourselves to be seen. I hope that viewers consider their own ‘creatures’ and find the courage to acknowledge them as parts of themselves worthy of compassion, cultivating greater empathy for the unseen struggles of those around us.”
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
