No. 023 - 'Lesbian Space Princess' by Emma Hough Hobbs & Leela Varghese (2025)

'A cinema screen without lesbians is like a day without sunshine'

Watched by Charlotte Blyth at the Sydney Opera House |

Directing duo Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs craft a vibrant and unique film in their award winning Lesbian Space Princess…. Blah Blah Blah.

I could write a review about the film itself, and how pretty much every joke lands exactly as it needs to, and that it’s very well paced, and the animation style is the perfect tonal choice and go on and on and on. But honestly, I don’t think that’s the most interesting thing I could write about. Because, when I saw Lesbian Space Princess for the first time at the Sydney Opera House, laughing with a sold-out audience of over 500 people and holding my girlfriend’s hand, it finally felt like I belonged in an art form that I revere so deeply. That my love deserves to be on screen. 

Operating on an incredibly silly premise, we follow the shy and sad lesbian space princess Saira as she attempts to save her ex-girlfriend from the evil ‘Straight White Maliens’ (with perhaps the most references to the clitoris I have ever seen in a film), but I think that is exactly what makes it such a revolutionary piece of cinema. Varghese and Hough Hobbs are prioritising queer joy. Much of lesbian cinema hinges on themes of melancholic yearning, forbidden love, and are all period pieces for some strange reason. I feel that queer cinema has found itself in a position where it is unable to tell a queer love story without acknowledging how challenging our society makes it to exist and love as a queer person, and this honestly just results in a bunch of frankly depressing films. Film can be a medium to escape the tribulations of our world, and as a lesbian myself, I look to lesbian cinema to bring me hope and joy. When I was young and grappling with my identity, this joy was something I needed, a void I desperately  hoped the cinema screen would fill, but didn’t. Lesbian Space Princess does exactly that, it is unashamedly vibrant and unrelenting in its comedy. I came out in 2018, at the height of ‘that’s so gay’ being thrown around far too casually, so I've often felt like the butt of the joke – but watching this film with a lively crowd, surrounded by laughter, I finally felt like everyone was laughing with me instead of at me. 

Watching this as part of the Sydney Film Festival programme, I was treated to an introduction and Q&A by the incredible directors. I will never understand why so many men decide to make movies about lesbians; a cisgender straight man will never truly understand what it’s like to be a lesbian let alone replicate that experience authentically in a film. So, when two lesbians walked out on stage, wearing matching ties with the characters from the film, I knew this was going to be good. Then after the screening, with each answer they gave, I grew to love the film more. I learned that Varghese and Hough Hobbs are dating, that Hough Hobbs came up with the title Lesbian Space Princess in the shower and they developed it together from there and that it was made by a small team on a small budget. There’s this sort of abstract, intangible energy I feel when I watch Lesbian Space Princess and it’s hard to describe, but I feel like it comes from all these factors. Lesbian Space Princess feels removed from the bureaucracy that often cancels out the authenticity I crave. So often, a queer character is chucked in just to tick a box but rarely actually serves the story. And it’s obvious when I watch these films, they form a facade of representation, but I never really see myself. But this film is different. And I can feel it. Lesbian Space Princess is quite clearly a labour of love and it’s almost like you can feel that love through the screen, emanating around the cinema.

It is also important to talk about the fact that Lesbian Space Princess is the first animated feature film to win the Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film festival and also the first animated feature film that is entirely about lesbians (which is kind of insane to think about).  Even though it’s 2025, and we should’ve had a film like this years ago, and sometimes I think how different my lesbian identity crisis would’ve been if I had seen this film at age 13; this makes me feel hopeful. Cinema is moving towards the right direction. Not only does this excite me as a movie lover who is always waiting for more lesbians on my screen, but as an aspiring filmmaker, that my voice and my films will have a place in the wider cinematic landscape, carved out by brave lesbian directors. 

So, thank you Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs. You’ve kind of changed this lesbian’s life.

Lesbian Space Princess is screening daily at Dendy Newtown.

Fleapit Pick of the Week

Mechanics' Cinema, hosted by the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, are having their next screening on Friday with The Human Surge (Eduardo Williams, 2016). There will be an introduction and discussion afterwards, and it's free entry for first time visitors! Details are available here.

Just Dropped

Early friend of the Fleapit and just all-round awesome group, Miya Miya, are celebrating their 1st birthday with a stacked programme of short films from the extended SWANA community. Final release tickets (here) are available now which include a donation to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. Grab your ticket now before it's too late!

Screenings: Thursday 02 OCTOBER - Wednesday 08 OCTOBER

Mechanics Cinema
The Human Surge (Eduardo Williams, 2016)
Friday

Pink Flamingo Cinema
Knife+Heart (Yann Gonzalez, 2018)
Wednesday

Waverley Library Bad Movie Club
The Devil Bat (Jean Yarbrough, 1940)
Friday

Hayden Orpheum | selected highlights
Kangaroo (Kate Woods, 2025)
Daily

The Secret World of Arrietty (Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2010)
Thursday

12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995)
Friday

Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright, 2005)
Saturday

Golden Age Cinema | selected highlights
Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor, 2025)
Saturday

Summerfield (Ken Hannam, 1977)
Sunday

Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, 1975)
Tuesday

The Truman Show (Peter Weir, 1998)
Wednesday

Ritz Cinemas, Randwick | selected highlights
Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro, 2025)
Australian Premiere
Thursday

The Travellers (Bruce Beresford, 2025)
Q&A w/ director
Monday

Kangaroo (Kate Woods, 2025)
Daily

Jim Jarmusch Less Is More (link)
Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)
Thursday

Cult Classics (link)
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1976)
Saturday & Monday

Celluloid Film (link)
Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011)
Friday

Classic Matinees (link)
Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
Saturday & Monday

Make It Musical (link)
Hercules (Ron Clements, John Musker, 1997)
Sunday & Wednesday

Meet Cute (link)
The Wedding Singer (Frank Coraci, 1998)
Tuesday

Dendy Newtown | selected highlights
Lesbian Space Princess (Emma Hough Hobbs & Leela Varghese, 2025)
Daily

Kangaroo (Kate Woods, 2025)
Daily

Cineversaries (link)
Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright, 2005)
Daily

Robert Redford Retrospective (link)
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969)
Wednesday

Palace Cinemas | selected highlights
Kangaroo (Kate Woods, 2025)
Daily

Cult Vault (link)
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (Ernest Dickerson, 1995)
Monday

Matinee Memories (link)
King Kong (Merian C. Cooper, 1933)
Saturday

Art Gallery of NSW
Film Series: Focus on queer 中文 cinema
Saving Face (Alice Wu, 2004)
Saturday

Film Series: Brazil! Brazil! A century of cinema
This night I’ll possess your corpse (José Mojica Marins, 1967)
Sunday

The men I had (Tereza Trautman, 1973)
Wednesday