A New Across the Spider-Verse Short Film Sees Miles Battle Anxiety

This weekend, at the Annecy International Film Festival and Market, a short Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse film was screened for audiences. Jarelle Dampier, an emerging animation artist and director, was able to direct the short starring Miles Morales (and voice actor Shameik Moore), as part of Sony Pictures Imageworks’ LENS (Leading and Empowering New Storytellers) program.

In this short film, called The Spider Within, Miles deals with anxiety and his own trauma that he has around being Spider-Man and being a superhero. Dampier describes the film as “horror” in an interview with The Wrap. Dampier drew on his own experiences with sleep paralysis and panic attacks to depict Miles’ mental state as he deals with an anxiety attack, exacerbated by a night of insomnia.

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In the interview, Dampier explained that there were a few moments when he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to sell this kind of story to the execs, but once he had the idea approved, he felt as if he was supported the whole way through. When Phil Lord and Chris Miller—the writers and producers of Miles’ Spider-Verse franchise—gave him notes, Dampier said that “there was never a moment where anyone strongly disagreed with the short or thought that it should change at a fundamental level, and that’s what I loved. I feel like that vision remained the same.”

Dampier isn’t sure when the short will be available to watch outside of Annecy, but given the excitement for all things Spider-Verse at the moment, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see it released somewhere soon.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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