“God is a Pelican” is a stop-motion animated short that follows two misfit middle-school girls’ intense, queer, and turbulent friendship as they create their own religion.
SYNOPSIS
“God is a Pelican” follows two queer middle-school girls, Madi and Josie, who both recognize they are different from other students, and don’t fit into the religious white suburbia around them. They decide to create their own religion, a religion for the weirdos and “others” of the world.
The religion they create is rooted in magic and play, while also a critique of institutional structures that have historically excluded queer people. Through this film, the girls reclaim certain aspects of religion like unconditional love and community, using it as a tool to bring queer and “othered” kids together.
However, as the religion grows and their misfit disciples gather, tension builds between them. Madi, as the figurehead of the religion, becomes more confident, both in her strangeness and queerness, while Josie’s jealousy and insecurity grows as she feels Madi slipping away. Finally, after playground sermons, midnight pond baptisms, and unruly followers, the religion sparks a school-wide panic, which ultimately leads to a Judas-like betrayal.
Our film is inspired by a fact Carmela's Catholic School told her growing up: a pelican will rip off its own flesh to feed it’s blood to its children. The school used the pelican as their mascot, claiming it as a parallel to Jesus sacrificing his own flesh and blood to save humanity. The pelican will be a constant motif throughout the film, and serve as an integral player and divine presence in the religion.
Director Statement
Queer kids, especially those who are transgender, have become the epicenter of a complex political battle over LGBTQ rights. In 2025 alone, 125 anti-trans bills have passed, taking away life-saving healthcare, changing legal documents, and enforcing transphobia as the societal norm.
As trans and queer kids become one of the most politicized and polarizing topics in the US, this film will tell an empathetic story of loneliness and love through the lens of a child.
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Carmela Murphy & AJ Dubler
Carmela and AJ are a stop-motion filmmaking duo who met in Puppet Animation class at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Their award-winning debut film, "A Bird Hit My Window and Now I’m a Lesbian," was born after many sleepless nights and even more cups of ramen noodles. This film has been screened at over 60 film festivals around the world, including the prestigious Annecy International Animation Film Festival. At this time the film has over 275,000 views on YouTube.
Carmela and AJ are the winners of the Colin Higgins Youth Filmmaker Award and the Art Gym Create Award Residency. Carmela is the recipient of the National Association of Women Artists Scholarship and the SAIC Artist and Leadership Award. Their expertise includes writing, directing, storyboarding, animating, and fabricating for stop-motion. Carmela and AJ have a shared vision of telling compelling and nuanced stories that uplift and resonate with the queer community.
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Women Make Movies (WMM), Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization registered with the New York Charities Bureau of New York State and accepts charitable donations on behalf of this project. Your donation will be spent by the filmmaker(s) toward the production and completion of this media project. No services or goods are provided by Women Make Movies, the filmmaker(s) or anyone else associated with this project in exchange for your charitable donation.
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