A young woman must learn to survive in a dystopian future in Kieran Moreira’s short film, Lungs. Satchel (Ilia Jones) is a former baseball player who now finds herself fighting for her life…more a fight for her soul. It’s the not-so-distant future, and the world is dying because the air has been poisoned.
While exploring the outdoors, Satchel is forced to wear a complex air filtration system due to the decaying state of the environment. She struggles to trust anyone she meets, and when a stranger appears, she is left with a difficult decision to make. Will she risk her life by trusting this stranger?
Like many dystopian stories, Lungs explores the theme of trust and compassion. As stated in the opening monologue, Satchel has two roads to walk down. It’s either the road toward survival or savagery. The film explores the idea of what kind of person we become when we’re pushed to our physical and moral limits. Lead Ilia Jones’s performance as Satchel walks that line between survivor or savage. Anoop Desai, as Abhay, offers a brief glimpse of a survivor’s hope for humanity.

“…forced to wear a complex air filtration system due to the decaying state of the environment.”
Director Kieran Moreira has an effortless and effective way of creating the tone of a bleak future. Unfortunately, some parts of our major cities resemble America’s dark future. DP Kyle Messina skillfully captures the film’s dark tones, and the color palette used in Lungs is spot-on.
It’s not enough just to tell a harrowing story of humanity. Kieran Moreira and co-writer N.C. Jones gets right to the heart of the life-changing choices we make when forced to survive. It’s all at the heart of why science fiction is the perfect medium to delve into the human spirit.
Lungs is available to screen on the Dust Sci-Fi YouTube channel.