In ‘Snooze Quest,’ The Online World, The Subconscious, And Reality Blur Together

Gun violence, anxiety, and insomnia trigger this hypnotic and surreal new short by Victoria Vincent, produced for Adult Swim’s Smalls program.

This minimalist and abstract indie work explores themes of violence, mental illness, and insomnia. When the protagonist reports a sniper shooting, it’s unclear whether we’re in a dream, an authoritarian reality, or both.’

Inner and outer worlds overlap as the protagonist, who has witnessed the crime, is tormented by the victim to report the sniper’s identity. The film conjures a disturbing intersection where the online world, the subconscious, and reality blur together, driven by mental and emotional exhaustion.

Vincent shares the origins of the short:

A few years ago, I was attending a flea market when a shooting took place. We all had to go on ‘lockdown’ in the nearby clothing warehouse until the police told us it was safe to leave. Afterward, I could never find anything about the event in the new — it was like it never happened. Then, for a long time after that, every time I walked past tall buildings, I would get an intense, panicky vision of a sniper peering over and firing at me. Snooze Quest is my attempt to turn those fears and visions into a cartoon.

Vincent, known online as Vewn, is an American artist from Los Angeles, California, who attended Calarts. She has been making independent short films and posting them online for the past 10 years.