Experiencing Interruptions?

Welcome to the Enclave

Two Texas sisters fled to the metaverse at the onset of the pandemic, creating The Enclave, a cyber-haven for ‘like-minded women’. Years later, the suburb is on the verge of bankruptcy, and owner Moni Calvioni is crowdfunding to save her digital utopia. With no awareness of online culture, she and her sister Blair turn to Twitch and Reddit to pitch their idealized vision only to fall prey to a slew of internet trolls who write profanities on their street signs and graffiti their walls with sexual imagery. The rapidly encroaching digital mountainscape only further unravels the delusion of The Enclave’s pursuit for the white, suburban ideal and exposes the baggage we bring to online spaces if we don't fix our very real IRL problems.

  • Sarah Lasley
    Director
  • Brenna Palughi
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 1, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4K Video
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Slamdance Film Festival
    Park City
    January 22, 2024
    Official Selection
  • Ann Arbor Film Festival
    Ann Arbor
    March 26, 2024
    Official Selection
  • Chicago Underground Film Festival
    Chicago
    September 14, 2023
    Honorable Mention, Jury Prize
  • Florida Film Festival
    Maitland, Florida
    United States
    April 12, 2024
  • Athens International Film + Video Festival
    Athens, Georgia
    United States
    April 7, 2024
  • Cucalorus Film Festival
    Wilmington
    November 15, 2023
    Official Selection
  • No Budge @ Nitehawk Cinemas
    Brooklyn
    April 24, 2023
    Official Selection
  • Chicago Critics Film Festival
    Chicago, Illinois
    United States
    May 3, 2024
    Audience Award Winner - Short Film
Director Biography - Sarah Lasley

Sarah Lasley is a Guggenheim Fellow and award-winning filmmaker, and an Associate Professor at Cal Poly Humboldt. Her no-budget films critique techno-utopianism with absurdist humor. Selected screening highlights include Slamdance, Ann Arbor, Big Sky, deadCenter, Athens International Film and Video Festival, Florida Film Festival, London Short Film Festival, 25 FPS Festival, and Les Instants Video. Her work has been reviewed by Film Threat, No Film School, RogerEbert.com, and The Washington Post. Her 2023 short Welcome to the Enclave won the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award at the Chicago Critics Film Festival and was picked up for distribution on the Slamdance Channel and NoBudge. She has an MFA from Yale School of Art and was a resident at the Yale Norfolk Program and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I created this film at the onset of Covid from my home in San Antonio, Texas. It's built inside Unity game engine and uses live-action avatars in a 3D simulated environment to skewer the illusion of AR/VR and further heighten the dissonance of two naive women colonizing an internet space they know nothing about. With no awareness of online culture, they turn to Twitch and Reddit to pitch their utopian vision only to become prey to a slew of internet trolls. The project was made in collaboration with Brenna Palughi who plays both characters. Over two and half years I meticulously modeled and animated the digital neighborhood while Brenna co-wrote and performed the characters inside of it. The final product is an experimental film about cognitive dissonance, techno-utopianism, and the baggage we will all bring to online spaces if we don't fix our very real IRL problems.