Stella for Star (2019) // Producer // Directed by Nick Singer // Cinematography by Justin Zweifach // Narrative Short
Robin Weigert (Emmy-nominated for Deadwood; Big Little Lies; Synechdoche, New York; Angels in America) stars as Dr. Marcy Later, a scientist who has devoted her life to nuclear fusion — a potential solution to climate change, which has nonetheless become the butt of jokes from the scientific community for being interminably delayed. (A familiar quip goes: “Fusion is thirty years away, and always will be.”) Now a middle-aged mother facing a world on the brink of catastrophe, Dr. Later understands that the dream of fusion in her lifetime may never be fulfilled.
At a fusion conference in New Orleans with her son and daughter, Dr. Later goes through the motions of her professional responsibilities while trying to keep the optimism and wonder of her children alive. She is intrigued, though, by a group of carefree Furries, in full animal suits, who are attending their own gathering at the same hotel. Meanwhile, an unseasonably strong hurricane looms off the coast, threatening the city.
