SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW! Despite the warning at the beginning, nothing will prepare you for the geometric shock corridor of the computer-animated short Bootstrapping For The Boobied, by writer-director Stella Chen. Amber Wu (Stella Chen) is so tired that she can’t sleep. She is burnt out to the max, while being non-stop h***y. Her roommate (Sharada Venkateswaran) keeps asking her to Venmo her half of the pizza they ordered last night. But Amber’s broke a*s has nothing to Venmo, so she asks if it can wait until she gets paid at the end of the week.
All the roommates can afford to eat is pizza, as groceries are expensive. After her classic computer animation class, Amber reaches out to an online self-help superstar (Keaton Jordan) for advice. Afterward, Amber begins to evolve her persona in the most peculiar ways, before the real her is finally unleashed.
A vibrant still from Stella Chen’s 2026 Slamdance Film Festival short Bootstrapping For The Boobied. The image showcases the film’s angular, old-school 3D computer animation style, featuring protagonist Amber Wu inside a surreal neon environment filled with sharp geometric shapes and exaggerated perspective.
“…Amber begins to evolve her persona in the most peculiar ways…”
Bootstrapping For The Boobied is animated by Chen, using one of the oldest of the newer formats: old-school computer 3D graphics. It is very much the same style of imagery found in the Dire Straits “Money For Nothing” video. All the figures are made with straight-line work only, giving everyone a cool, cubist, angular composition. You can see why the filmmaker is drawn to working in this ancient format, as it is both abstract and profoundly illustrative. The audience first feels the full impact of the angles when Amber smashes an electric back massager into her digital vulva. Objects profane and mundane are presented through the same computer lens, intensifying the way the outrageous pops.
Chen unleashes raw, rampaging id in an extra zesty fashion, all while looking Max Headroom to the nines. Ever since watching Bootstrapping For The Boobied, I have been repeating Chen’s final lines nonstop, like they’re from a Schwarzenegger movie (it’s kinda freaking my wife out). The film will invade the space in your head while going all Pac-Man on your lap.
Bootstrapping For The Boobied screened at the Slamdance Film Festival.
"…will invade the space in your head..."
