A Chinese restaurant that failed on a crusty space station orbiting Mars is an unlikely environment to pursue dreams, even in a dystopian future where Earth is no longer an option. However, it is the launch pad for the animated sci-fi drama series “Ancient Chinese Mars” that participates in the Roman MIA market from October 6th to 10th.
Created by Andrew Leon – the concept artist behind Disney’s “Mulan” and Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Eternal” – this series follows Leeds, the Chinese family on Earth who are forced to flee to Mars. Leave a planet struggling with climate change and a socioeconomic caste system that never thrives, they explode in hoping to pursue their dreams on the Red Planet.
So Leeds opens a Chinese restaurant. They hope that it will be the first step in planting roots and paving the way for middle class life for children. But nothing is easy for foreign immigrants, especially in what the show’s creators describe as “the paradise of the Terraformist on Mars.”
Like most flights in sci-fi fantasy, “Ancient China of Mars” has increasingly roots in the current reality of dystopia. Leung called the term “Enshittification.”
“American dreams these days feel more and more fantasy. It’s really becoming unachievable, and I was really trying to find a way to tell that story,” Leon told Variety. “It’s a better way to communicate that, but from the perspective of people who don’t need to participate in the greatness of that world, but can’t participate in it…through the experience of immigration?”
Growing up in Smalltown, Oregon, Leon recalls brushing the racist provocation of a classmate who told him to “return to China” to flee to the sanctuary of his parents’ restaurant. A sci-fi junky from an early age, he spent much of his childhood drilling holes in his sketchbooks, and is a series in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which teaches us to believe in the future where we all belong.
“Ancient Chinese Mars” is based on his experience as the child of the only Chinese-American family in town, but Leon said the show “is not just about Chinese-American stories.”
“It’s really about what it’s like to be stuck in this world where everything isn’t created for you,” he said. “What if the world of technology has everything they want? But when you reach paradise, you say, “Oh, we can’t actually be just a driver in this paradise.”
The legion of overworked workers in the American gig economy will undoubtedly argue that there is a more important hook to lure the audience into “ancient China on Mars.” “I think it’s going to be a great show to watch,” he said. “I think it’s hilarious.”
Neal Ludevig, who produces for Snarky Elephant Productions, said he was immediately drawn to Leung’s vision for a series that has probably not blown up into the stratosphere at all, but translated easily across the border.
“He could have made this an American story about immigration and entering into that American dream, but he reused it to make it more universal,” Ludwig said. “Every country has immigrants. Every country has a social class system and displaced people.”
Leung is the product of Snarky Elephant Incubator, a multi-year development program for creators in the emerging film industry that embodies the company’s mission to bring more diverse content to the screen.
“I want to say we’re creating content that treats the elephants in our rooms in a sly way. It’s about race, identity, climate, immigration, sexuality,” Ledevig said. “Our mission as a company emphasizes stories that are not often seen on screen.”
“Ancient China Mars” is one of the 15-20 projects currently under development by Snarky Elephant. This includes Craig T. Williams’ “Black Boys do n’t Sew” produced by Viola Davis and Julius Tennon. Ludevig said the program is “effectively an IP pipeline,” but its central strength is identifying promising creators rather than individual projects and making long-term investments in the artistic vision of their creators.
“It creates excitement. It creates momentum. It creates this kind of bigger vision where people feel excited and can tell their stories,” he said. “The more you are in a place where people can see themselves reflected in those stories from different diasporas and backgrounds, the more stories will continue to make those stories.”
The MIA Market in Rome will be held from October 6th to 10th.
