New Furry Cinema
In partnership with the Otterdam Furry Arts Festival, WORM is proud to present a screening that highlights the creativity and inclusive spirit of the furry fandom, with a focus on its vibrant and diverse film scene. This event features four short films from Europe and the US, followed by Rukus, a DIY mix of autobiography and fantasy that explores the intersections of sexuality, neurodiversity, and healing in the early 2000s furry community. With a lineup including sparkledogs, emo wolf pups, and some cheeky Lion King references, this program celebrates the unique self-expression that thrives in furry culture.
The furry subculture is much more than costumes and conventions—"it’s a community where anthropomorphic animal characters, or “fursonas,” become powerful tools for exploring identity". Many furries, especially those from the LGBTQ+ community, find the fandom to be a welcoming space to explore who they are, free from the judgment that often exists in mainstream society. As seen in our program, furry cinema reflects this openness, offering personal and intimate portrayals of furry identity. The fandom has become a sanctuary for many, allowing people to engage with their creativity and gender or sexual identities in ways that may not feel safe elsewhere.
Through a mix of animation, puppetry, and hybrid documentaries, the films reflect furry life online, exploring themes of nostalgia, trauma, and the complexity of non-human identities. Playful, heartfelt, and at times cheeky, this program celebrates the creativity and inclusivity at the core of furry culture
The screening will be followed by a virtual Q+A with the filmmakers – Fox Teih (Packmates), Quint Iverson (Feral Audacity), Niko Mlynarčík (BOLAVLK/WEREAWOLF), Dozzy & Baycun (Find You), and Brett Hanover (Rukus) – assuming they can use a computer with their adorably oversized paws. Because they are all, literally, neon-colored talking animals.
FEATURE
**Rukus
by Brett Hanover
2018, US, 87 min., English subtitles
Rukus is a queer coming-of-age movie set in the liminal spaces of furry conventions, southern punk houses, and virtual worlds. Rukus is a 20-year-old furry artist, living with his boyfriend Sable in the suburbs of Orlando, Florida. In his sketchbooks, Rukus is constructing an imaginary universe – a graphic novel in which painful childhood memories are restaged as an epic fantasy. Brett is a 16-year-old filmmaker with OCD, making documentaries about kinky subcultures despite his own anxiety. After an interview leads to an online friendship, their lives entwine in ways that push them into strange, unexplored territories.
SHORTS
**Packmate
by Fox Teih
2022, US, 4 min., English subtitles
Packmate is a deeply personal film, recounting a story of two kits, testing the boundaries of their friendship as they hunt to survive.
**Feral Audacity
by Quint Iverson
2022, US, 13 min., English subtitles
A heartfelt film about two furries navigating an online romance, told through live-action, machinima, and animation.
**BOLAVLK/WEREAWOLF
by Niko Mlynarčík
2023, Czechia, 7 min., English subtitles
A film about sparkledogs, werewolverines, and other things that are JUST drawings.
**Find You
by Dozzy, Baycun, and Thatco
2019, US, 4 min., English subtitles
Find You is about searching for an identity that feels impossible to reach because of the prison that is a human body. It is about wishing for transcendence to the truth of what the mind perceives itself to be, which is not of this world, but of the world of TV shows, movies, games, and art that represent the inner soul.
CINEVILLE VALID AT THE DOOR!