287. Fantasia 2026: Interview | SUNSPARK Director Danny Bourque

Danny Bourque is the one-man-band behind SUNSPARK, a new animated short playing at this year's Fantasia International Film Festival. The movie follows a plucky robot named Zap, who lives in a humanless post-apocalypse characterized by flat, dry, dusty land. That is, however, except for two things: Zap's humble Dust Bowl-era abode and a mountainous junkyard, managed by really-late-stage capitalist Jimbot, who accepts payment in the form of sunflowers.On a search for supplies, Zap finds the discarded shell of a robot and dedicates themselves to the project of repairing and restoring them back to life. The dedication is so strong, it even includes stripping parts from their own body to give to this other robot.With no dialogue, SUNSPARK manages to tell a gentle sci-fi story that's appropriate for any aged heart, while intriguing the mind regarding subjects of relational sacrifice, the nature of sentience and the effects of humanity's flawed stewardship of the Earth.Danny was able to produce this entire project in less than two years with assistance from the Render Network, a non-profit seeking to provide independent creators with the computing resources needed to produce high-quality work with even higher levels of detail. By stringing together a network of computing/rendering power across a global, decentralized network, Danny was able to bring scenes to life that should've taken more than 10x the time to do so with an individual's home computer power. It speaks to one of SUNSPARK's focuses, the magnifying power of community.It's a beautiful short, one whose universe I'd love to spend more time in. My kids enjoyed hanging with Zap and I'm sure they'd like to peek into more stories and characters in the future.---More info on SUNSPARK can be found here.⁠Follow The Movies on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Letterboxd⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Throw a couple dollars in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tip jar!