When you watch R’ha you’ll have a hard time believing this is the work of a 23-year-old student in his first year studying film and animation.  The Hollywood Reporter has posted an article about the short and its creator, Kaleb Lechowski, who attends Berlin’s Mediadesign Hochschule.  With no budget to work with, Lechowski spent seven months creating a completely virtual world and a story about an alien protagonist.  The short has nothing to do with human beings at all, yet the main character is someone the audience can easily relate to.

Image courtesy Kaleb LechowskiThe name, R’ha, immediately brings to mind the Stargate franchise while the story itself feels like an otherworldly version of Rise of the Machines.  The main character is facing interrogation by an “artificial organism” and the plot revolves around the history between the organic and inorganic intelligences.  The entire project was written, directed, and animated by Lechowski alone.  The only outside help he had was from Harmut Zeller who did the sound work and Dave Masterson who provided the voice acting talent.

One thing’s for sure, you’ll remember the phrase “Initiating motivation protocol.”  It’s the new “I’ll be back.”

The only plot synopsis given is very succinct, but accurate:

    A member of an alien race is being interrogated and tortured by a machine.