2025
Short Film | Coming-of-age Drama
Coming Soon
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY
Thang Ho
*comp image
Synopsis
Set in an isolated cabin in the forest in a not-too-distant future, mycologist Jonah passionately studies fungus, in an attempt to discover the next penicillin for a major pharmaceutical company. Her romantic partner Avi wants nothing more than for her to come home so they can build a life together, while her mentor Paul slowly succumbs to a fatal disease.
Then Chiasa, a bioethicist, arrives to interrupt Jonah’s work, charged with determining whether Jonah’s year-long grant will be renewed, and giving her one week to prove its merits. Through their time together, Jonah discovers that it’s not her job at stake, but her very perception of reality. She’s driven to either find an escape from her circumstances, or a way to accept them on her own terms.
Film Comps
Marvelous Mrs Maisel
Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Directed by James Ward Byrkit
X
La La Land
Epic | Sci-Fi | Fantasy
Directed by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Why De Novo?
De Novo explores fungal biotechnology, consciousness, and the price of progress, grounded in real scientific ventures.
Unlike typical AI films, it sees AI as an extension of humanity, not an antagonist. It challenges digital ascension narratives by addressing DNA’s data limits and the consequences of an unescapable reality.
Told from a woman’s perspective, De Novo avoids defining her by romance, assault, or motherhood. Its visual style blends animation, stop motion, and live-action, creating an intimate yet expansive love letter to Earth and a cautionary tale for humanity’s future.
Characters
An androgynous mycologist who passionately derives fulfillment from her scientific research, even while at philosophical odds with the major pharmaceutical company she works for. She prefers the isolation of the wilderness to the company of others, and believes everything can be boiled down to data.
Jonah
cast
Jenna Kanell
Aviyaan
Jonah's romantic partner, and a fellow scientist, albeit one who works in a lab. Having watched his highly successful mother die alone, to him his job is just that. Hopelessly in love, he has the heart of a poet, and wants nothing more than for Jonah to come home so they can build a life together.
cast
To Be Announced
A bioethicist, who on behalf of the corporation interrupts to evaluate over the course of a week whether to renew Jonah's research grant. She takes her work quite seriously, at the intersection of philosophy and science. But eventually, her true intentions erupt to the surface.
Chiasa
cast
To Be Announced
Paul
Jonah's mentor and father figure, he's devoted his life to building a piece of fungal biotechnology: a machine powered by mycelium. He helped usher Jonah into her field and her job and continues to provide guidance. But he's dying.
cast
Frank Crim
Current Status
Development ⎯ Pre-Pro ⎯ Production
“It's a love letter to the breathtaking planet at our fingertips. It's a reminder that we're a part of said world, rather than separate from it. We forget how tiny we are in the massive scheme of the universe, and how little time we have. We can choose to let such a fact crush us, or lean into a sense of awe and wonder, and focus on the things that truly matter. Before action must come awareness: when we look outwards, we look inwards.”
— Jenna Kanell
