HENRi is an emotionally powerful short film, which explores human existence at the most fundamental, personal level — what it means to be a conscious individual.

Hundreds of years in the future, a derelict spacecraft, controlled and powered by a human brain, floats aimlessly in the outer reaches of space. HENRI, the name of the ship’s power system, is an acronym which stands for Hybrid Electronic / Neuron Responsive Intelligence, and was the first of Earth’s Neuro-Tech space exploration research vessels. Trapped in the cold, mechanical prison of the vessel, the “brain,” which has no recollection or concept of self, gradually begins to experience disjointed images of its former life — images it cannot understand. Carrying the remains of a crew long dead, and becoming increasingly self-aware, HENRI experiences the instinctual desire to be free. Yearning for freedom and yet unable to move, the brain devises a plan to build itself a mechanical body from parts of the ship. Maybe then it will understand the images it is seeing — maybe then it will feel alive.

Writer / Director Eli Sasich has an extensive background in film production, and his portfolio includes narrative, and experimental films, documentaries, and commercials. He loves genre movies, especially the sci-fi films from the 70s and 80s.

— Eli Sasich