'Lesbian State Princess' (2025): Annecy Film Review

The witty and fast-paced satire of the need for women's empowerment (even after the #metoo movement) 'Lesbian State Princess', penned by the Australian filmmakers Emma Hough Hobbs & Leela Varghese, which competes at the 2025 Annecy Film Festival (Contrechamp Competition) could have easily been relegated to a TV adult animation series. Its unadulterated necessity to constantly reinvent its narrative and its one-liners could make it suited for the small screen perfectly. Yet, in the manner of Nina Paley's 'Sita Sings the Blues', the mix of music, a story of a woman ugly duckling still in need of validatin (here coupled with the queer context) brings the whole story to another, more cinematic level.

The film, which won the Teddy Award for best queer feature film at the 2025 Berlinale Film Festival (Panorama Section), starts with Princess Saira (Shabana Azeez) breaking up with the definitely most extroverted Kiki (Bernie Van Tiel). Saira has been raised by two lesbian Queens in her Clitopolis planet, a safe haven for everything non-straight. But  Kiki is kidnapped by the box-looking Straight White Maliens, who simply use her as a bait to get Saria's secret lesbian weapon, the Labrys, and secure some (if any) sexual conquests.

Saira has to save Kiki in 24 hours, and leave her star; her colorfully queer trip includes a relationship with the ship's old-time HAL-like masculine Problematic Ship (Richard Roxburgh). The old-fashioned Problematic Ship has decorated the ship with John Wayne pics, among other things, yet he feels a certain fatherly affection for Saira. Saira will also have a very prominent relationship with songwriter Willow (Gemma Chua Tra), and this relationship will test her journey's purpose.

Watch the 'Lesbian State Princess' trailer

'Lesbian State Princess' uses the time-honored fairytale narrative tactics (remnants of the 'Little Mermaid' animation film are still evident) to bring into light a mildly bombastic, and still felt story of individual validation and emotions that move beyond awareness. Every time it switches episodes, it keeps you in charge of the narrative moves (the friends that become enemies etc.) while using its rich verbal repartees to infuse new breaths of air into tested tropes. Without being rancorous, it succeeds in getting its point of self-validation and its importance (in a world of advancing homo/transphobia). The film itself is not kind to its drag queen character, but has its greatest fun when chopping into pieces the incel stupidity.

Aesthetically, the laid-down character design quality (not too much, not too articulate but everything emphasized) works to the film's favor (the male incels bring to mind another Australian animation feature, 'The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead and Roundhead' by Elliot Cowan). The 'Lesbian State Princess' still won't go for fantasy scenes, even though the rom-com quality and the space environment almost seem to suggest it. Guided by an everyday matter-of-fact ideal in its music (songs and music by Michael Darren), to cover up for the spac narrative abnormalities the characters encounter, it still charms in its queer sensitivity and performance. (And, as everyone knows, including the homophobic Maliens, who mistake the 'thespian' with the 'lesbian', every gender and sexual orientation expression is a performance).

'Lesbian State Princess' screens in the Contrechamp Competition for Feature Film at the 2025 Annecy Film Festival.

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