As psychiatrist Derwood Richards prepares to say goodbye to Rosemary Hamm, his long-term patient, the boundaries between therapy, memory and imagination begin to blur. Their parting opens a portal into a wonderfully strange universe of lost astronauts, Cold War ghosts and a mysterious Soviet-American space station drifting somewhere beyond Saturn.
Chris Sullivan’s The Orbit of Minor Satellites moves freely between hand-drawn animation, live action and tactile handmade imagery, creating a world that feels at once intimate and cosmic. What begins as an unconventional therapeutic relationship expands into a meditation on grief, loneliness and the stories we construct when reality becomes too difficult to bear.
Tender, funny and beautifully eccentric, this is science fiction of the most human kind: less concerned with conquering distant planets than with the impossible distances between people. For anyone willing to leave the familiar orbit behind, Sullivan offers a singular cinematic journey – strange, melancholy and full of unexpected wonder.
The Orbit of Minor Satellites – Chris Sullivan, USA
When psychiatrist Derwood Richards and his long-term patient Rosemary Hamm approach the end of their complicated therapeutic relationship, grief and memory begin to spill into a strange parallel universe of Cold War anxieties, imagined planets and a forgotten Soviet-American space station orbiting Saturn.
2026 120’00 min
CHRIS SULLIVAN
Chris Sullivan was born and raised in the wooded hills of Pittsburgh along with 10 siblings. He now lives in Chicago, and teaches filmmaking and animation at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. His films have been shown in festivals, theatres and museums worldwide, including Tribeca Film Festival, Osian’s Cinefest in India, Haifa Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Pacific Film Archives; Annecy, Zagreb, Animator, Fantoche, Zagreb World Festival of Animation, Humboldt Film Festival; Ann Arbor Film Festival; Ottawa Animation Festival; Guggenheim Museum; Boston Museum, Walker Art Center, Wexner Center, Houston Museum, National Gallery D.C, Cinefamily In LA, Gene Siskel Film Centre Chicago, and many more. His first animated feature Consuming Spirits had its theatrical debut at New York’s Film Forum for a two week run in December 2012. His films have received funding from The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation Film Fellowship, The Bush Foundation, and The Creative Capital Grant. The Orbit of Minor Satellites is his second animated feature.
Our Funding Partners
With Special Thanks to The Elf Factory, official sponsor of LIAF 2026.
With Special Thanks to the Arts Council England
Event supported by Film Hub London, managed by Film London. Proud to be a partner of the BFI Film Audience Network, funded by the National Lottery.
Venue
The Horse Hospital is a three tiered progressive arts venue in London providing an encompassing umbrella for the related media of film fashion, music and art. For more information about The Horse Hospital and how to get there, find out more.
Horse Hospital, Online
