An Evening with Victoria Vincent

Snooze Quest, Victoria Vincent, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.

“A fever dream stitched together from hyperpop absurdism, DIY grit, and existential dread.”—Sam Gurry, LA Film Forum

Feral youth, alienated animals, and masked authorities populate the jittery, acid-colored animations of Victoria Vincent, which map the psychic fallout of life shaped by platforms, protocols, and perpetual crisis. Known online as “vewn,” Vincent has released dozens of short films over more than a decade, honing a singular visual style that is simultaneously handmade and hypermediated. Her characters—doubled, distorted, and often wounded—move through worlds of ambient violence and bureaucratic absurdity, their anxieties amplified by Vincent’s boiling linework and teeming backgrounds. The humor is dark, yet it gives way to fleeting moments of tenderness, solidarity, and connection. For this special evening, Vincent presents a selection of films spanning her body of work, from early internet releases to recent projects like Dirt Girls (2021) and Snooze Quest (2025) and shares insights into her process. 

Followed by a conversation with Victoria Vincent and audience Q&A. Presented in partnership with DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts.

2015–2025, USA
Format: Digital
In English
ca 60 mins

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Victoria Vincent, known online as “vewn,” is a Los Angeles–based animator and filmmaker. Since 2015, she has released dozens of short independent films online, drawing a global audience to her darkly comic, emotionally charged explorations of anxiety, social isolation, online identity, and existential unease. Alongside her independent practice, Vincent has developed projects for Adult Swim, FOX, and Netflix’s We the People, among others.

PROGRAM
Notes adapted from Sam Gurry

Find True Love
2016, 1:00 mins
Bored? Horny? Filled with Rage? Find Hot Singles in your Area Now!

Talkline
2016, 1:00 mins
Using audio culled from a specifically created hotline, Vincent gives callers newly imagined lives.

Fluffy’s Third Eye
2016, 1:30 mins
In contrast to Vincent’s typical colorful palette, this piece is more monochromatic, making Fluffy’s Third Eye even more distinctive. Not all doors can be closed.

Cat City
2017, 3:00 mins
A recurring theme in Vincent’s work is the idea of change and stasis. Characters are resistant to change, resolute, or in avid pursuit. No matter the choices made, the result seems to be the same—back where you started, but sometimes happier.

Kittykat69
2017, 2:00 mins
Amongst the more hopeful pieces in Vincent’s oeuvre, Kittykat69 is an exploration of the existential duality between our online and offline selves.

Agoraphobia
2017, 2:10 mins
The soft curves of the freeway close in like a vice. The whole city hums, scoring this brief odyssey to the dog park.

Motivational Video Movie
2018, 1:00 mins
Be the change you want to see in the world.

Mask Dog
2018, 1:00 mins
A dog puts a mask on.

Dead End
2019, 3:30 mins
It’s the lost leading the lost through the entropy of the working world. A guidance counselor stares past his student, projecting his own inertia. “Better luck next time,” coos the Slot-O-Rama siren, a lullaby for the stalled out and the stuck in. 

Catscape
2019, 2:30 mins
Two internet friends meet IRL for the first time—right after visiting church and summoning the devil. With masks off and vulnerability exposed, they fall asleep under the soft sonic glow of The Golden Girls, bleeding in from the house next door.

Twins in Paradise
2020, 9:30 mins
Twin tennis prodigies Marcy and Darcy teeter on the edge of fame, self-destruction, and the ever-present call of the void. Their synchronized swings mask a growing dissonance—between expectation and identity, brilliance and burnout. The narrative crackles like static, a charged silence before the inevitable collapse, one match away from an inferno. As the court lights dim and the world around them blurs into nothing, what remains for the sisters beyond the game, beyond the applause—beyond each other?

Bobo the Monkey
2021, 1:50 mins
Chekhov’s ketchup bottle features in this one-off about Bobo, a small monkey held in captivity, plotting his escape from the zoo. Rendered in Vincent’s classic palette of deep rusts and dusky ochres, Bobo the Monkey is a playful piece about freedom and murder and the space in between.

Dirt Girls
2021, 5:30 mins
Featuring a star-studded voice cast, Dirt Girls is about two sisters on the verge of adolescence and absolution.

Catopolis
2022, 13:30 mins
“Am I going to die?” Penny asks a Magic 8 Ball. “Absolutely” floats up the triangle. Penny’s job, where KPI meets TKO, brings her a mix of physical pain and emotional shame. Her desensitization to violence comes full circle when she resigns. 

Birthday (Bad Kids Stuff)
2023, 5:30 mins
We built this world and, now, we must have our birthday in it. Sex, drugs, mass violence, aaaand maaaany moooore. One of several Bad Kids Stuff shorts starring Roxy and Jazz, moving through a world of sardonic resignation and hyper-pop absurdism.

Nothing to Hide (Bad Kids Stuff)
2023, 5:30 mins
The second installment of the Bad Kids Stuff series finds our heroes swapping both identities and incarcerated statuses. Before delivering a death sentence, the judge declares, “You could never kill us in a way that matters.” Drawn from a meme that began as a Tumblr shitpost about anthropomorphized mushrooms, the line now underscores the futility of resisting bureaucratic systems like an eldritch judiciary with limitless resources. Administrative alienation—compounded by doomscroll-induced detachment from the self—has rendered us all NPCs. If death doesn’t free us from paperwork, does it even matter?

Health
2024, 0:30 mins
A robust mix of kafkamaxxxing traditional animation, live action, and syncro-vox. Doctors hate this one trick.

Stupid Dinner
2024, 2:30 mins
“Should I eat dinner or should I kill myself.” For an interloper, the seemingly simple task of salting food becomes something that requires refuge and reflection. In dimly lit rooms where the walls creep inward, questions of family, friendship, and identity drift like dust in the air—unanswered, unavoidable.

Uncomfortable Encounter
2024, 0:45 mins
Clippy but for social interactions.

How to Make an Animated Video (Tutorial)
2024, 5:30 mins
Veils lifted! Secrets spilled! Truths unlocked!

Snooze Quest
2025, 9:30 mins
The latest in Vincent’s canon. PJ, our bunny-suited protagonist, searches for meaning and medical care amidst a sniper prowling through her neighborhood. The bleed of perceived truth starts as a trickle and ends in a hemorrhage with BJ imploring her double, “No time for philosophy. We have to go back to the real world.”

ACCESSIBILITY

Conversations at the Edge events have live captions (CART). The Gene Siskel Film Center is fully ADA accessible and its theaters are equipped with hearing loops. For other accessibility requests, please visit saic.edu/access or write cate@saic.edu

TICKETS

$14 General public
$9 Students & seniors
$8 Film Center members
$8 SAIC staff & faculty & AIC staff
FREE for SAIC students with a valid ID

All CATE programs are free for SAIC students. Unless otherwise noted, SAIC student tickets are released five days prior to showtime. Tickets must be picked up in person from the Gene Siskel Film Center box office. A student ID is required.

RESOURCE GUIDES
Conversations at the Edge’s resource guides contain articles, interviews, and other material related to upcoming artists and events. Available here.