Violet City

2010, 23 minutes

A gothic steampunk fantasy

Flynn Guffin’s mother drowned eighteen years ago while fleeing mysterious pursuers. His father never got over the loss of his violet-eyed wife and Flynn begins dreaming of the mother he never knew - of her flight from Violet City. When Flynn’s eyes turn violet after an attack by a carnivorous plant in the fungus mines, he finds himself ostracised by Pale Haven’s village community. He stows aboard an airship to the decadent city in the shadow of Cathedral Mountain to try to make some sense of his metamorphosis and the secrets of his mother’s past. He discovers that he’s implicated in the life cycle of the Empusa, creatures that live inside the mountain and feed on the negative emotions generated by Violet City’s citizens. Ruled by four cruel aristocratic houses, the city is a magnet for the world’s darker souls. Street gangs terrorise, deadly creatures glide between towers and spires and footpads stalk canal banks.

---