Infinity Care

Project Synopsis:

A mother and her three year-old-daughter with disabilities connect beyond death in tender moments through an extraordinary futuristic service.

 

Infinity Care is a sci-fi animated love letter to writer/director Autumn Karen’s special needs daughter Hermione, who passed away suddenly from epilepsy at age three in 2015. Inspired by a recurring dream she had for many years, it explores the complex intersection of disability, grief, and capitalism.

 

Loving mother Trisha visits Infinity Care, a mysterious, hospital-esque corporation. Inside, she encounters a series of memories. Led by a robot Orderly, she wanders through her life with her special needs toddler, Genesee. Genesee's grandmother Jane and older brother Damian enjoy reading Peter Pan, having tea parties, and playing as Trisha relives the beauty of her life with a complex child. Though the challenges are immense, daily life is nonetheless bright. In the memories, Genesee also struggles with seizures. She eventually dies in the ER as her doctor is unable to revive her during a grand mal seizure…

 

The climactic reanimation sequence in Infinity Care evokes the uncanny valley that parents of children with disabilities experience when contemplating what it means to be a special needs parent. The spectre of "what would my child be without this disability" echoes through the mind and heart of Trisha as she plays with a reanimated, "normal" version of Genesee at Infinity Care.

 

Mission:

The core mission of Infinity Care is to redefine special needs parenting and child loss experiences through exposure of these taboo subjects in all their raw reality. Its unflinching window into the death of a child to epilepsy offers audiences a chance to connect with these communities through the powerful medium of animated sci-fi.


Our team is committed to showing disability and child loss onscreen with the tact that it deserves. In recent years, children with disabilities onscreen have been depicted by neurotypical actors and/or exploited in negative connotations. How media depicts both children and adults with disabilities shapes our wider worldview.

 

About Writer/Director Autumn Karen:

Autumn Karen is a filmmaker, journalist, ghostwriter, and educator who uses writing to elevate traditionally unheard stories. She's English faculty at High Point University, an recent Honors Fellow at UNC Greensboro, founder of Woven Lines Publishing, and a longtime contributor to local independent paper Triad City Beat. She holds a BA in Women's Studies from UNC Asheville, a Masters of Arts in Special Education from WCU, and an MFA in Screenwriting from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Her award winning work as a journalist, author, and screenwriter centers on themes such as systematic oppression, grief, and complex societal relationships. Among her credited co-authored books in her last decade as a ghostwriter are Mississippi Still Burning: From Hoods to Suits, the story of a Black preacher who took over the KKK from prison, and Amy: Book One, an empowerment erotica novel published through the University of Pleasure. Her award-winning short screenplay, Infinity Care, is based on her own experience losing a daughter to epilepsy. She’s a founder of Medusa’s Gaze, a development and distribution company that focuses on amplifying the voices of women and gender diverse creators.

 

Infinity Care

Project Synopsis:

A mother and her three year-old-daughter with disabilities connect beyond death in tender moments through an extraordinary futuristic service.

 

Infinity Care is a sci-fi animated love letter to writer/director Autumn Karen’s special needs daughter Hermione, who passed away suddenly from epilepsy at age three in 2015. Inspired by a recurring dream she had for many years, it explores the complex intersection of disability, grief, and capitalism.

 

Loving mother Trisha visits Infinity Care, a mysterious, hospital-esque corporation. Inside, she encounters a series of memories. Led by a robot Orderly, she wanders through her life with her special needs toddler, Genesee. Genesee's grandmother Jane and older brother Damian enjoy reading Peter Pan, having tea parties, and playing as Trisha relives the beauty of her life with a complex child. Though the challenges are immense, daily life is nonetheless bright. In the memories, Genesee also struggles with seizures. She eventually dies in the ER as her doctor is unable to revive her during a grand mal seizure…

 

The climactic reanimation sequence in Infinity Care evokes the uncanny valley that parents of children with disabilities experience when contemplating what it means to be a special needs parent. The spectre of "what would my child be without this disability" echoes through the mind and heart of Trisha as she plays with a reanimated, "normal" version of Genesee at Infinity Care.

 

Mission:

The core mission of Infinity Care is to redefine special needs parenting and child loss experiences through exposure of these taboo subjects in all their raw reality. Its unflinching window into the death of a child to epilepsy offers audiences a chance to connect with these communities through the powerful medium of animated sci-fi.


Our team is committed to showing disability and child loss onscreen with the tact that it deserves. In recent years, children with disabilities onscreen have been depicted by neurotypical actors and/or exploited in negative connotations. How media depicts both children and adults with disabilities shapes our wider worldview.

 

About Writer/Director Autumn Karen:

Autumn Karen is a filmmaker, journalist, ghostwriter, and educator who uses writing to elevate traditionally unheard stories. She's English faculty at High Point University, an recent Honors Fellow at UNC Greensboro, founder of Woven Lines Publishing, and a longtime contributor to local independent paper Triad City Beat. She holds a BA in Women's Studies from UNC Asheville, a Masters of Arts in Special Education from WCU, and an MFA in Screenwriting from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Her award winning work as a journalist, author, and screenwriter centers on themes such as systematic oppression, grief, and complex societal relationships. Among her credited co-authored books in her last decade as a ghostwriter are Mississippi Still Burning: From Hoods to Suits, the story of a Black preacher who took over the KKK from prison, and Amy: Book One, an empowerment erotica novel published through the University of Pleasure. Her award-winning short screenplay, Infinity Care, is based on her own experience losing a daughter to epilepsy. She’s a founder of Medusa’s Gaze, a development and distribution company that focuses on amplifying the voices of women and gender diverse creators.