It is often said that the internet is a weird place, but truthfully, it’s only as weird as we, the people on it, are, and so there is always potential to bring that weirdness away with us. In Homemade Gatorade, writer/director Carter Amelia Davis chronicles a weird online interaction between two individuals and how it turns into an adventure in real life. Transcending simple weirdness, though, Davis’ unique style mixes humor with sharp social commentary, taking us on a wild and surprising adventure, too.

The premise is self-evidently absurd… a woman develops her own “creamy” version of Gatorade and, via forums and social media, desperately tries to find buyers for it online. Upon reflection, though, I was forced to question that absurdity—if there is one thing millennials have embraced with the internet, it’s the concept of unorthodox work. “There are so many people with side hustles and entrepreneurial aspirations right now”, Davis explained, describing some of her inspiration for the premise before adding, “…we hear a lot about the people who succeed, but what about those who fail?” Ultimately, we are meant to laugh, as the absurdity is fully embraced in both the writing and the visual aesthetic of the film, but there is something undeniably touching in the narrative, dare I say relatable, in the protagonist’s state of mind. “I wanted to make a film that could make people laugh but also reflect the horrifying reality of American life right now”, Davis confessed.

Davis’ animation process: collage image compositions in Photoshop, then animate in After Effects. 

Homemade Gatorade is immediately unsettling but captivating— the epitome of a “you cannot look away” film. As we watch the protagonist go on her quest to deliver her goods to her first real-life customer, the question of success is not even what guides us; it’s the insanity of the online exchange that, personally, I wish could have lasted longer. Daniella Peterson voices the main protagonist, while Davis herself voices the iconic “Susie Gjhjjfjh”. The juxtaposition of their tones is brilliant, and greatly contributes to making the film’s hilarity… up until its surprising ending!

Mainly animated by Davis, with some additional 3D animation by VirtualMoth, the mix of distorted photo collage and live-action is a brilliantly distinct approach, matching the energy of the narrative and bringing a certain level of self-deprecation and that tell-tale “weird” feeling to the proceedings. This description from Davis’ bio is apt: “…her work should ideally make you laugh and feel like you need to take a shower or something.” Odd, but accurate! 

Homemade Gatorade premiered online on YouTube months ago; however, its recent selection at the 2026 Sundance put it on our radar, and now a promising festival run looks to take off with the film traveling to Regard in Quebec next. Davis is one of a constellation of exciting animators born and sustained on the internet for whom the festival world is a “nice” to have but not the be-all end-all. She maintains a successful Patreon and has also self-published a novel. Davis’ other films are also available online, and she is active on social media. With this level of hustle, Homemade Gatorade makes much more sense!

Stay with me, and by extension, with Sister!, a short film that I’ve come to adore, but which I recognize could be a hard sell for loyal S/W viewers. Not because of its lack of quality, of course, but because its sensibility is different in many ways from our typical featured short.

The story of a woman who pops in unexpectedly on her unsuspecting Brooklyn-based “sibling” (their moms supposedly share a sperm donor), Sister! is a fun, transgressive, and over-the-top queer comedy written by its stars, up-and-coming talents Julia Wendt and Tessa Belle, and is an unapologetic showcase for the duo’s comedic stylings.

So far so good, but, and perhaps I am projecting here, I was fairly resistant to the film early in my initial viewing. Partly, I recognize we’re chauvinistic towards directors, and this is, resolutely, a writer/performer film. We’ve sat through enough LA actor-driven web series to be trepidatious of this. Directed by John Onieal, notable as the creator of Grindr’s first scripted show, his direction is quite deft, but, between the film’s limited locations and the rapid pace of its joke delivery, the short presents more like a single-camera sitcom than an auteurist work. Onieal’s contributions are necessary but subtle, managing the reservoir of written comedy in a collaborative process that “involved a lot of riffing with each other, comedians, and department heads so to ensure that what we were making resonated,” and making sure the camera platformed the strengths of his stars.

Fortunately, Wendt and Belle deliver star turns. Part of the roughness of the early going is that Wendt is left to establish the initial tone by playing off of a deadpan Asha Ward, but the transfemme Wendt’s line delivery is very affected and can come off as stilted. However, like a stray note brought into harmony, Belle’s entrance into the film soon snaps the dynamic into place, and their chemistry is dynamic.

It’s also relentless. The pair’s comedy style, which is progressive, but playfully mocks the excesses and contradictions of Gen-Z wokeness in subject, is basically all-joke, all-the-time in practice. It’s frankly remarkable—the film has almost no standard exposition, no calm, sincere moments, it’s pretty much 13-minutes straight of jokes.

Naturally, your mileage may vary on the effectiveness of these—comedy is hard! But a ton of them land for me, and the great thing about a high-joke tempo is that if one falls flat, another is right on its heels. The production showed up to the shoot with a huge list of ALT jokes and planned for extensive space to improvise on set, so the team had a huge surplus of material in the edit to pick what was hitting the best, and it shows.

Even if the effectiveness of the comedy is questionable for you, I argue that it is deserving of admiration. Comedy is criminally underrepresented in shorts, and especially this sort of comedy, which is not ironic, surreal, or absurdist, but focused on jokes. Wendt and Belle blasting jokes to set up a joke which delivers a joke punchline is the closest I’ve seen to a short reaching something like classic 30 Rock, which I perceive as a gold standard. That the film also has heart is almost a miracle. In the midst of their bludgeoning, escalatingly hysterical final act, the film’s producer, Jeremy Truong, challenged the production to “find moments of emotional truth,” and while the “sisters’” ultimate catharsis and bonding is telegraphed, it genuinely lands.

A feature at last year’s Tribeca Festival, we’re pleased to present the online premiere of Sister! Take advantage of this opportunity to watch a very funny short, which we expect to be a launchpad for this impressive team, especially Wendt and Belle.