Hidden amongst the mythical undergrowth in a grimy operation room, six Rabbit Humanoid Surgeons haphazardly fight to save the life of a damaged soul.

Distraught and on the brink of death, a young man, Sam, collapses at the border of a mythical forest claimed by the Lepus Humanoids. Part hare, part mechanical, part mortal; these six unruly and foolish creatures relentlessly obsess over the human spirit. Momo, a non-mechanised Lepus who supervises their grimy warren, is alerted by his Light Sphere to Sam’s location. With no time to lose, Momo transports Sam from the human world to ‘The Operation Room’ where these self-appointed “Doctors” search for the origins of Sam’s trauma. But will their unorthodox techniques betray their incompetence to understand humans emotions?

Spiritus Lepus came about because Sweden has a rich folklore full of mystical Spirits that live in the forest, which I have always been fascinated by. With Spiritus Lepus, I wanted to taste how it would be to revisit these spirits today. What would they look like? How would they behave? How do they smell even? And most interestingly, what do they think of us humans? I wanted the viewers to feel like they were visiting something familiar, yet something completely new and mysterious. I wanted to show a glimpse of a world that exists right in front of us, only sometimes we are just too blind to see it.

Director Kristofer Kiggs Carlsson’s vision takes us through such a wonderful spirited imagination. The unusual spurt of creativity is magically refreshing in the world of short films, and the incredible attention to detail to the costume designs allows us to enter this world with a gasping awe. Stuck somewhere in between a Star Wars cantina and a Guillermo Del Toro film, these creatures are at the epitome of fantasy worlds built out of dreams.

The main goal of this short was to introduce the Spiritus Lepus world and its characters to as many people as possible; to see if there was an interest in us taking the concept further. We had a wonderful response on Kickstarter (which helped to fund roughly half the shooting budget) and it has really become a community driven story that so many people became a part of. It was an amazing and honourable experience to have that kind of support and trust from film lovers… that they trust that you’re going to create a film they will be proud of. And we really hope we’ve done that.