What if legendary creatures from folklore such as the Loch Ness monster, bigfoot, the chupacabra, and the yeti actually existed?

In the steampunk fantasy The Ningyo: Episode One they do.

Created by Miguel Ortega and Tran Ma, the short is set in Los Angeles in the year 1911. The story centers on the exploits of Professor C. Marlowe (Rodrigo Lopresti), a paleontologist who believes in the existence of ningyo - mermaids from Japanese folklore believed to grant imomortality to any who catch them and eat their flesh.

Marlowe's obsession with the ningyo causes him to fall into disfavor with the scientific community.

Despite the disdain and ridicule from his peers, Professor Marlowe claims he possesses a map which will lead him to the location of the fabled ningyo.

However, his claims about the map come to the attention of mysterious parties who will stop at nothing to acquire it. Forces including a wealthy Japanese aristocrat portrayed by acclaimed actress Tamlyn Tomita (The Karate Kid, Real Artists).

The Ningyo is a lavish production whose steampunk aesthetic seems heavily influnced by authors such as Jules Verne.

Stunning set pieces include a rambling, gilded mansion containing an otherworldly menagerie of cryptid creatures, to an ocean submersible that could be the sister ship to the famed Nautilus from Verne's classic novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

The visual and creatue effects are jawdropping, and defy the popular misconception that independent genre films are inherently B-level and can not compete with bigger-budget mainstream fare.

But don't my word for it, watch this magnificent short here...

There are plans for the story of The Ningyo to be continued in future installments. To discover more about this extraordinary production, visit the short's official page on Facebook.

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