Captain Zero: Into the Abyss Part 2; courtesy of Cutting Edge Animation
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As superhero movies, and society in general, evolve, the emphasis on mental health as part of a hero’s journey is emerging in more story lines. Gone are scripts where the hero merely saves the day. Now many plots revolve around the emotional cost of rescuing (or not) the population at large.
Enter Captain Zero: Into the Abyss, Part II, an animated short from Cutting Edge Animation, which has ties to the D.C., Chicago, and Seattle areas. The story centers on Xerxes Hughes, aka Captain Zero, a high school senior who tries to find a balance between his student and superhero lives, all while trying to confront his inner demons through therapy sessions.
In a case of write what you know, the idea for the character of Captain Zero spawned from Cutting Edge’s CEO and co-founder Z Cher-Aimé’s own struggles with mental health. The filmmaker was diagnosed with major depressive disorder in 2015, and it was an anxiety attack along with negative interpersonal thoughts that brought Captain Zero to life.
“I was just in a really, really dark place,” Cher-Aimé tells City Paper. “I remember thinking to myself, I have one or two options here. I could try to do something that’s destructive, or I could try to do something that’s constructive. So I leaned on what I’ve always been leaning on, and that’s art for me.”
Initially the idea would center around his diagnosis, which Cher-Aimé received his senior year of high school, and how he navigated that as a Black teenager. But the idea to base the story around a superhero evolved out of his drive to create something that could help both people with mental health issues and those around them—a “medicine in the applesauce” idea, if you will.
Thus, the character of Captain Zero was born. But it wasn’t until Cher-Aimé met Andre Carl Engco, now vice president and co-founder of Cutting Edge, while they were both attending Full Sail University in Florida, that Captain Zero morphed from potential Saturday morning cartoon material to something more substantial.
“Andre is the one who was like … you should have it be more like The Sopranos,” says Cher-Aimé. “We should go for prestige television.”
Though episodic TV was the initial goal, the story of Captain Zero morphed into a five-minute short, with part one debuting on YouTube in 2022. With a run time of 15 minutes, Part 2 has a more extensive storyline and features the voices of actors Keith David (Depression Demon) and Pose star Angelica Ross (Oblivion and Dr. Niobe).
It was a tweet that brought Ross on board. “Pose had just come out,” says Cher-Aimé. “I’m seeing Angelica Ross’ performance in the show and I’m like, this is mind-blowing. It’s absolutely amazing. I redesigned Oblivion to look specifically like Angelica Ross.”
Via Twitter, Cher-Aimé sent Ross an image of the character, with the note, “I would love to have you to voice this character.”
Ross responded 30 minutes later saying she’d love to be a part of the project.
It wasn’t the first time Cher-Aimé used social media as a tool to help bring the Captain Zero project to life. With the exception of Engco, all of Cutting Edge Animation’s executive board members got involved with it after connecting online via Instagram or Twitter. (Of the Cutting Edge Animation team, Engco and CFO Datalion Holt are local, while Cher-Aimé and CMO Queen L. Hibbler are in Chicago and COO Chris Carthern is based in Seattle.)
“It was really just, someway, somehow, them coming across Captain Zero-related media or artwork and reaching out like, ‘Hey, this looks really cool. How could I be involved?” says Cher-Aimé.
Hibbler, one of those social media finds, dedicatedly submitted Captain Zero: Into the Abyss, Part II to film festivals. At the beginning of May, the team was informed that their submission had been accepted to the Tribeca Festival (formerly Tribeca Film Festival)—specifically picked by EGOT winner and the festival’s supervisor of animation submissions, Whoopi Goldberg. The news was great, but the short was only 70 percent finished at the time of its acceptance. The dedicated animation team (based in various locations worldwide) managed to complete Part II in time for its June 7 festival debut.
Goldberg, who introduced the Animated Shorts category, spoke about Captain Zero’s mental health storyline on stage after the screening. “For me it was all about, how do I get myself to a better place?” says Goldberg. “Because you can just fall into the abyss. You can fall into deep sadness and just isolate. And that’s the thing about all these films. It’s about pulling your head out of the sand. It’s about moving forward.”
Audiences in D.C. will be able to view Captain Zero: Into the Abyss, Part II with its first public screening since Tribeca at Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market on Aug. 8. But anyone who happened to catch the short in New York will notice a few changes.
“Everyone that’s coming to this particular screening will literally be seeing a brand-new cut of the film,” says Cher-Aimé. “You can expect Captain Zero 2.0 with this version; the same great story told with added quality.”
Captain Zero: Into the Abyss, Part II starts at 5 p.m. on Aug. 8 at Angelika Pop-Up. A with a moderated Q&A and meet and greet will follow. cuttingedgeanimation.com. $15–$125.