Genre
Synopsis
Humans Are Shapes (HAS) follows a pair of aliens who have come to earth to embody and experience what they perceived as the most profound example of human love. After stalking and observing two transgender sisters (“Sepi” and “Sepehr”) for months, the aliens had found their sisterly bond and enigmatic queer kinship to be ideal for this goal. The aliens possessed their bodies, assumed their identities, and emulated their relationship in what comes to be a type of supernatural roleplay. However, contrary to what the sisters’ relationship actually once was, the aliens themselves begin to develop romantic feelings for each other, which isn't possible for them to act upon as they had made a pact to not violate humanity’s morality codes—in this case meaning to avoid incest. The alien inside “Sepi” also begins coming to terms with the precarity of inhabiting a transgender body, and worries for “Sepehr’s” safety as well, who had recently been a victim of transphobic violence on public transit.
After the alien inside “Sepi” confesses her romantic feelings for the alien inside “Sepehr” and finds that it's mutual, “Sepi” explains her plan to possess a new body—a cis male bodybuilder (Ryan) who has shown sexual interest in her after being a fan of her radio show. By having “Sepi” change bodies, the aliens can circumvent the taboo of what’s possible in their current forms, as the two had once vowed to not violate human morality codes. Additionally, through an alien’s rudimentary understanding of physiological advantage, “Sepi” believes that being in a stronger body can allow her to better protect “Sepehr” and herself from harm. “Sepi” then meets up with Ryan for a sexual encounter where the alien migrates into a new host body in an extraordinary pursuit of love and survival.
Bio
Sepand "Sepi" Mashiahof is a second generation Iranian-American immigrant and trans-femme filmmaker, screenwriter, and musician. She holds a BA in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she wrote her senior thesis on Horror Film, using a feminist lens to explore the queer signifiers of canonized monsters throughout film history. After graduating, she moved to Oakland, CA where she cultivated relationships with the queer underground arts community through her work as Executive Director at Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, host of the cult Scream Queens Radio program, and member of industrial no wave band SBSM. These connections allowed her to pursue her passions as a filmmaker, where she directed a plethora of music videos before making her short film debut with Love You Forever, a psychological arthouse horror film which she wrote, directed, acted in, and composed the soundtrack for. Currently, Sepand is keeping a nest of nine feature screenplays warm while pursuing relationships with producers who love horror films and want to see queer/trans stories through them. As part of her own empowerment journey, she utilizes genre storytelling to create worlds of nuance in which trans protagonists can experience their arcs without the pressure of cissexist expectations.