Nathan Bouie’s strikingly impressive debut film, “Intergalactic Ingenue,” is about a young man whose plans to join his alien girlfriend’s hive mind collective are interrupted by the surprise appearance of his ex.
But it’s also kind of about social media.
“I think social media has flattened a lot of our cultural experiences, especially for Gen Z and millennials. We’re all individuals with our own experiences and personalities, but we’re also consuming a lot of the same things, seeing the same trends, having the same conversations, and sometimes even developing the same anxieties at the same time,” Bouie notes.
“The internet has made our experiences feel more collective than they probably ever have been. So I think the hive mind has become an interesting metaphor for that.”
“Intergalactic Ingenue” plays this weekend at the Arkansas Cinema Society’s prestigious Filmland festival. One of the strengths of the short — which is trippy, funny, eerie and compulsively watchable — is the flexibility of its main metaphor, the hive mind. It could be about social media, sure, or about conformity in general, or many other things. As I watched, I found myself thinking about living in the suburbs, doing boring jobs, and polyamory, among other subjects.
The film also has an unforgettable visual trademark: The main character, James (Jai’Reeh Demond) has not yet entered the hive mind, so appears normal. But his intergalactic girlfriend (Mckayla Fontanez) and the other members of her hive — they’re all the same collective organism, of course — have huge, dark, vacant circles that fill their entire eyes. When James’ ex Toni (Akira Jackson) shows up, dating another member of the hive, her eyes are normal, too.
James’ old commitment issues suddenly arise again, after a remarkable, creepy set piece that shows us exactly how one joins the hive.
Bouie attended Filmland with one of the film’s producers, Quinn Murphy, and production designer production (and Arkansas native) Callan Low, both of whom were key to the production. (Most of the shoot took place at an elegant borrowed house in Los Angeles.)
Bouie, who is from Cleveland and now lives in Los Angeles, learned filmmaking working as a producer’s assistant on shows for Netflix, Peacock, and HBO, as well as for production companies including Shondaland. He’s especially interested in genre storytelling that centers Black characters. He recently received a $10,000 grant from the Napa Valley Film Festival, and has just completed production on his second short, “The Lineup,” which he hopes to take on the festival circuit in early 2027.
We asked Nathan Bouie about genre, commitment, and why hive-mind stories feel so immediate. He also discussed at least one big upside to social media.
Nathan Bouie on ‘Intergalactic Ingenue’
MovieMaker: What gave you the idea for this?
Nathan Bouie: The idea really came from two things I’ve always loved: sci-fi and genre filmmaking. I grew up watching shows like Doctor Who and probably watched horror movies way too young, from A Nightmare on Elm Street to The Thing. So when I started thinking about making my first film, I knew I wanted to tell a genre story in some way.
At the same time, I was in my mid 20s living in Los Angeles, dating, and having a lot of conversations with friends who were in that same stage of life. I started noticing how much fear there was around commitment and taking that leap into a monogamous relationship. I saw it in myself, too. And for me, it wasn’t necessarily that I didn’t want a relationship or wasn’t ready for one. A lot of it came from being afraid of the unknown: What if this doesn’t work out? What if this person isn’t the one? What if I make the wrong choice?
That made me want to explore the idea of taking that leap anyway. What does it mean to be brave enough to commit to another person when you can never really know how things are going to turn out? I wanted the film to be about that fear of the unknown, the courage it takes to be vulnerable, and ultimately being courageous enough to fall in love. I just wanted to explore those ideas through the kind of sci-fi story I grew up loving.
MovieMaker: Why did you want this story to be your first film? How did you become a filmmaker?
Nathan Bouie: I’ve sort of always wanted to be a filmmaker. The story I always tell about when I first knew I wanted to do this was when I watched Honey, I Shrunk the Kids as a kid. There’s a scene where the kids are swimming in a giant bowl of cereal, and their dad is unknowingly about to eat them. I remember being completely fascinated by it. I didn’t understand how they made something like that possible, but I knew I wanted to create that kind of magic myself someday.
For a long time, I actually thought I wanted to be a writer more than anything. But last year, my mom got a little sick and there was a bit of a scare. It made me realize how much I wanted her to see one of my films on a big screen someday, and the thought of her never getting that chance really terrified me. So I decided to take a leap of my own and try directing.
What surprised me was how natural it felt once I was on set. I absolutely loved it. There was something about being able to take all of these ideas that had been living in my head and work with a team to actually bring them to life. I honestly couldn’t believe I had never thought I could do it before.
So while this is my debut as a writer-director, it feels like I’ve been working toward it for a very long time. I just needed to finally take the leap myself.
MovieMaker: It seems like “hive minds” are kind of in our collective consciousness, or hive mind. There’s the new Vince Gilligan show, Pluribus, and another terrific short at Filmland, called “Hive Mind Deluxe.” Your project and those have drastically different approaches, and all are uniquely cool. But why do you think so many artists are thinking about hive minds now?
Nathan Bouie: It’s so funny you say this because Pluribus actually came out right after we finished production on my film. I remember seeing the trailers while we were getting ready to shoot and thinking, “Damn, Vince Gilligan really stole my swag.”
But seriously, I love that show, and I think it’s really cool that there are so many different takes on the hive mind happening right now. I think mine is obviously coming from a very different place than Pluribus, but there’s something about the idea that feels really relevant to the world we’re living in. … It allows storytellers to explore this tension between individuality and the feeling that we’re all somehow connected or thinking and experiencing the world in similar ways. And maybe that’s why it feels like such a popular idea for artists to explore right now.
MovieMaker: How did you come up with the big eyes, and how did your team pull them off?
Nathan Bouie: For our two main hive mind characters, James’s girlfriend and Toni’s partner, we actually used practical sclera lenses. I really wanted those to be real because they were going to be closest to the camera for most of their screen time, and I thought there was something much more unsettling about seeing those completely black eyes in-person.
Originally, I wanted everyone in the hive mind to wear practical sclera lenses, but then I found out they were about $60 a pair, which would have basically been my entire budget on contact lenses alone.
So for the background hive-mind actors, we ended up doing the eyes as a visual effect in post. Honestly, I think they turned out even better than I expected. It gave us a little more flexibility, especially with the larger groups, while still keeping the same visual language throughout the film.
MovieMaker: How did you assemble your excellent cast?
Nathan Bouie: Social media was a huge part of putting the cast together. I knew Mckayla already, but outside of her, I actually didn’t know most of the cast personally.
I happened to know an actor named Noah Toth, who is in It Ends, a film that was recently acquired by NEON. I saw the film earlier and really loved it. Noah is great in it, and when I saw Akira in the footage, she immediately stood out to me. I remember thinking, “I think she’s going to be a star.” I actually reached out to Noah and asked if he would vouch for me when I DM’d her, and thankfully she saw the message and got back to me.
Akira also happened to know Jai, who I had actually discovered through her page. Originally, I thought they were both based in Los Angeles, but it turned out they were both in Atlanta. That was definitely a little bit of a problem at first, but once they sent in their self tapes, I knew I had to figure it out. They were exactly what I was looking for, so I decided to fly them out to L.A. and cover their lodging.
A lot of the casting process was really just me taking chances on people I believed in. Social media made it possible for me to find actors I probably never would have crossed paths with otherwise.
“Intergalactic Ingenue” plays in the “Not of This World” block at Filmland on Sunday morning, along with “Hive Mind Deluxe,” among other films.
You can learn more about Filmland here and read more of our festival coverage here.
Main image: Mckayla Fontanez on the set of “Intergalactic Ingenue.” All photos courtesy of the filmmaker.
