Anxious and introverted protagonist Saira lives a sheltered life on the planet of Clitopolis, where she is princess, daughter of two neglectful lesbian queens. After she is devastated by a break-up with Kiki, her partner of two weeks, Kiki is kidnapped by "Straight White Maliens", who intend to use her as bait to steal Saira's labrys in order to power their "chick magnet". Unlike the other lesbians of Clitopolis, Saira, to her parents' disappointment, has been unable to summon her labrys, a symbol of lesbian power.
Saira steals a "Problematic Ship" to embark on a quest across the galaxy to save Kiki. Along the way, she saves Willow, a former gay-pop idol, from an abandoned moon crystal mine. The pair then travel to meet a drag queen named Blade, who helps Saira to summon her labrys by helping her learn to be kind to herself. Blade tries to steal Saira's labrys, but is stopped when Willow and Saira fight back and decapitate her.
Willow and Saira briefly hook up, but break up with Saira believing that she needs to prioritise saving Kiki. When she arrives at the planet of the Straight White Maliens, she gives them her labrys to rescue Kiki, but when Kiki refuses to re-enter a relationship with her, Saira's self-doubts re-emerge, causing her labrys to dematerialise. This causes the Maliens to attack her, but after overcoming her doubts again, and using the re-summoned labrys to power the Maliens' "chick magnet", the Maliens realise that they overvalued their desire for attention from women, and decide to date each other as a throuple. Saira returns to Clitopolis, happily single, having learnt to love herself. The credits showcase her being more social, going with her mothers to Blade (who is still alive despite being decapitated) for family therapy, receiving Willow's hit album about her and going on new adventures with the Ship (who is now an ally).
The film was greenlit for production under the South Australian Film Corporation and Adelaide Film Festival's Film Lab: New Voices mentoring and funding initiative,[3] following the inaugural round of the scheme in 2021, which led to sci-fi thriller Monolith premiering at the 2022 Adelaide Film Festival and enjoying international success. The Lesbian Space Princess team were eligible for up to A$600,000 in screen production grant funding for their script.[4]
Lesbian Space Princess is the debut feature film for Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese, who wrote and directed the film.[2] Hough Hobbs is an artist, and writer/director Varghese a former award-winner at Tropfest.[3] The film was produced by Tom Phillips of We Made A Thing Studios.[2][5][3]
In May 2024, Adelaide Film Festival launched its "Adelaide Film Festival Goes to Cannes" program,[6] partnering with Cannes Film Festival's film market, the Marché du Film, to showcase five local projects in an official presentation; Lesbian Space Princess was one of the five chosen, and Leela Varghese joined nine other emerging filmmakers at Cannes.[7][8]
The graphic artists who worked on the film used Toon Boom Harmony, VFX, and high-end compositing. The production team worked at Artisan Post Group's space at Lot Fourteen, Adelaide, who worked on post-production of the Netflix series Stateless and ABC series Aftertaste, among others.[3]
Music was composed by Michael Darren and Matthew Hadley, and Ben Fernandez did the editing.[2]
Hough Hobbs and Fernandez are both graduates of Flinders University's Creative Arts degrees.[9]
Themes
The story, inspired by the filmmakers' own lives, includes themes that relate to LGBTQI people, and themes include the importance of self-worth and self-love, feeling free to take up space, and being comfortable with your own company.[3]
The film was released in Australian cinemas on 11 September 2025,[14] by Umbrella Entertainment.[15][16] The film also sold to the United States (Fandor), Canada (Renaissance Media), Germany (Salzgeber), Spain (Selecta Visión[es]), Singapore (Anticipate Pictures), Ukraine (KyivMusicFilm), and the United Kingdom and Ireland (Peccadillo Pictures).[17][18] It released in the US on 31 October 2025, and will be released in the UK and Ireland on 19 June 2026,[19] after being previously scheduled to be released on 22 May.[14][20] The film premiered on various video on demand platforms on 18 November, including Prime Video.[21]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 43 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Combining a proudly queer coming-of-age story with a wild sense of humor, Lesbian Space Princess is a raucous animated adventure with a big heart to go along with its rebellious spirit."[22]
Cassie Tongue, writing in The Guardian, gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying its script is "sly and witty", but that the film's "real power... is that it's a world where both light touches and deep feelings can coexist".[14] Steve Erickson of Gay City News described the film as "delightful" by having a hero triumphing "over heartbreak and sexism" and young adult sensibility, and called it a "splendid comedy" influenced by Revolutionary Girl Utena and Neon Genesis Evangelion which is "casually multicultural and sex-positive" while focusing on the importance of self-love.[23] Lyvie Scott of Inverse described the film as a "surprisingly sweet, bracingly funny, and unapologetically queer remix" of a space adventure, and praised the film for the focus on mental health, but criticized it for being "behind the curve" with a style of series on Cartoon Network in the 2010s like Adventure Time and Rick and Morty, released too late to ride the "wave of edgy adult animation."[24]
David Opie of IndieWire said that the film is a "tongue-in-cheek adventure" with gags and visual jokes throughout, praising the animation as "charming", the focus on self-love, and describing the protagonist Saira battling with anxiety as a strength of the film, saying that the film is influenced by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sailor Moon, Adventure Time, The Midnight Gospel and Rick and Morty, while criticizing it as clunky at times, with some jokes which fall flat, giving it a rating of B−.[25] In contrast, Juan Barquin of MovieWeb praised the film for its "charm" and humor, noted the influence of Sailor Moon, Twilight, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Steven Universe, Rick and Morty and other Adult Swim series like BoJack Horseman with "overt queerness" and an "irreverent tone," with sequences inspired by anime, and said that the film is designed for viewers who "who once thrived on Tumblr and/or A03," calling it a "terminally online" film.[26]
