Madison Cain-Arens

A teenager dives into the world of…stealing fish? This criminal teenager risks it all in the hopes they can save the lives of sickly, silent fish. They dream of giving them the love and attention that everyone forgets they need.

My journey as an animator has just recently begun. In my home city of Sheffield, I attended college for art and design, realising there my love for the medium of animation. After creating two hand drawn animations on my fine art course with only my mobile phone, I quickly got myself to Hallam University where I would go on to develop my short film Criminally Aquatic at the age of 20.

Criminally Aquatic presents all the values I hold towards the wellbeing of living creatures: that they should all get the chance to thrive in environments that suit them. Of course, for pets this value jumps further into providing the best life we can for them. I don’t quite share the breaking and entering, stealing value that my character does, however. I wanted to showcase my fish rehabilitation idea in a fun, engaging and more thought-provoking way.