Losing a pet is a traumatic experience, but what if you can communicate with them after they’ve passed?
That idea shines through in the funny, colorful and stylishly chaotic short film, “The Rainbow Bridge,” which will premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The 13-minute comedy thriller — written, directed, edited and composed by Dimitri Simakis and produced by his wife Suki-Rose — follows Tina, played by Thu Tran, who wants to maintain an otherworldly connection with her elderly dog, MeeMoo, voiced by Fat Tony, after he dies.
Things go off the rails when they visit a New Age-like veterinarian clinic and meet Dr. Bailey Picadillo (Heather Lawless) and her partner, Herb (James Urbaniak).
The idea to combine pet loss with crystal-gazing spirituality came through an existential moment for Simakis.
“I was trying to cram in as much as possible, and maybe in the front of my mind I thought, ‘What if this is the last film I make?'” he said. “I thought I had to add esoteric tech — I love that in film. I have to have fantasy realms. I need to have wood-paneled offices. I need to have moody lighting. I need to have chaos and people tearing up an office. And a dog puppet in a fantasy realm is going into the movie.”
The film is a way to address a meaningful theme with joy, said Suki-Rose.
“As creators, we’re serious about making stuff, but our work isn’t serious, serious,” she said with a smile. “We approach a theme that is very serious, and the only way into that is through psychedelic visuals, fun and insane. That’s the only way we know how to do that.”
The script was written with Tran in mind, Simakis said.
“Suki and I have known Thu for well over a decade now, and I’ve always said out loud, ‘I’ve got to have a fantasy film starring Thu,'” he said. “‘I don’t care how we get there, but we’re going to get there.'”
While Simakis had conceived the story about loss and grieving years ago, it wasn’t until early 2023 that things started clicking.
“I wanted to develop her character, but as far as the character goes in the short, it was basically going to have to be Thu,” he said. “Every line, said through Thu’s voice in that fantasy realm, will make sense.”
The script initially overwhelmed Tran.
“When I first read it, I couldn’t really picture it,” she said. “I didn’t know how much of the set would be real and practical or CGI and computers. And I wondered how much I needed to remember.”
Since the script was written specifically with Tran in mind, everything else was built around her, Suki-Rose said.
“It also worked that Thu didn’t know 100% how we were going to do this,” she said. “And working with James Urbaniak and Heather Lawless, who are incredible legacy directors, was insane and delightful, because they created this vessel for Thu to perform and bounce around in.”
One of the final elements of casting was Nigerian-American rapper Fat Tony.
“I was lucky enough to work with him in 2017 on an internet game show called ‘Thrift Haul,’ and I’ve loved him ever since,” Simakis said. “He’s so sweet, so talented and nice.”
Simakis emailed Tony, and explained the film and Tran’s role.
“He immediately got back to me and said, ‘It is so amazing that you mentioned Thu Tran, because I’m a huge fan of hers, and she was one of the first people who subscribed to my YouTube channel a decade ago,'” he said.
Tran was taken aback when she found out Fat Tony was a fan.
“We never spoke to each other, but I remember going to his shows,” she said. “Well, you know, after you go to a show you look people up. And when I did, I immediately subscribed.”
Simakis and Suki-Rose met Tony at his Hollywood apartment, and showed him the unfinished rough cut of the film.
“We showed him the giant dog puppet, and yes, it is an actual 11-foot dog puppet, but (with) the unfinished green screen, it was very underwhelming,” Suki-Rose said. “There was something about all of us crammed in a Hollywood apartment sitting on a bed. And we left asking if this made any sense at all.”
Still, Tony’s response was great.
“He brought such a tenderness to his part,” she said.
Tran couldn’t believe what she saw after the film was completed.
“I was blown away, because during the shoots the room would be something different every day — a doctors office and then a science lab,” she said. “They would all be super detailed with tons of books, pamphlets and other paraphernalia, and all the medical and electronic and video gadgets. It would be like a Hieronymus Bosch painting.”
Simakis and Suki-Rose are honored that “The Rainbow Bridge” is in Sundance this year.
“I feel like Sundance occupies this lofty place in our imaginations,” Suki-Rose said. “To us as filmmakers, it’s mythical. And I feel like breaking through and having something they were interested in is an incredible validation of the work.”