A new cinematic project is set to bring a deeply sensitive and overlooked human experience to the forefront of mainstream entertainment. The Vale: Origins, a live-action and animation hybrid short film written and directed by bestselling author Abigail Hing Wen, will hold its world premiere at San Diego Comic-Con 2026.
The 13-minute prequel introduces the foundational history behind Wen’s upcoming New York Times bestselling middle-grade fantasy novel, The Vale, published by Third State Books. The story follows a grieving family of inventors who turn to an advanced artificial intelligence virtual world to rebuild their lives after a sudden tragedy.
Confronting a Silent Sorrow
While the overarching franchise explores futuristic technology and ethics, the prequel film centers on a profound emotional catalyst. The plot follows the Lee family as they navigate the heavy emotional aftermath of a miscarriage.
“At its heart, this film tackles a profound human experience that is too rarely discussed: a family grieving a miscarriage,” Wen explained in an official director’s statement. “It is about mourning not just a physical loss, but everything that unborn baby represented—a son, a sibling, and the promise of life, love, and connection.”
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In the film, five-year-old Bran Lee, played by emerging young actor Egan Xander, retreats from his fractured family life into his sketchbook. He invents an elaborate virtual landscape filled with blue forests and ancient legends.
Upon discovering the depth of their son’s isolation, his parents, played by Robert Palmer Watkins and Disney Legend Lea Salonga, begin coding his drawings into a fully immersive virtual reality universe. The collaborative programming project becomes an unexpected tool for family therapy, allowing them to process their collective grief.
A High Calibre Creative Alliance
To bridge the gap between the raw physical world and the digital landscape, Wen recruited a team of prominent animation veterans. John Aoshima, an Emmy-winning director recognized for his structural story work on Disney’s Gravity Falls and Laika’s BAFTA-winning Kubo and the Two Strings, served as the animation director.
The digital environments were built by animation production designer Neil Blevins, who spent 16 years at Pixar Animation Studios contributing to Academy Award-winning features including The Incredibles, WALL-E, and Up.
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“Blending these two distinct mediums was essential to our storytelling,” Wen stated regarding the structural layout of the short. “It allowed us to ground the Lee family’s reality in the raw, tangible emotion of live action, while unleashing the limitless, vibrant possibilities of animation to construct the sprawling virtual world of Bran’s imagination.”
The production relies heavily on its musical landscape to manage these sharp narrative shifts. The original score was composed by Andromeda Wen, an award-winning San Francisco-based multireedist who made her Carnegie Hall debut in June 2026.
The production marks a notable addition to the expanding portfolio of Abigail Hing Wen, who previously saw her novel Loveboat, Taipei adapted into the feature film Love in Taipei, produced by Lionsgate and distributed by Paramount, now streaming on Netflix internationally. By anchoring a massive multi-platform fantasy franchise in a genuine look at parental loss, the filmmakers hope to provide a space for families to discuss modern grief and recovery.
