A cyborg child dies suddenly when a piano falls on top of him. Death comes to take him to the afterlife, but he refuses to go until his final wish is fulfilled - to cause chaos at his own funeral.

Director Biography - April Aquino

April Aquino is a 23-year-old Filipino-American animator. She has just completed her animation BFA and illustration minor from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. She is excited to see what kinds of wacky stories and adventures everyone has and hopes that she can help tell those stories.

Director Statement

Trigonometry’s Ultimate Method to Putting the Fun Back in Your Own Funeral is a film inspired by my experiences with death and funerals. Over the summer, one of my close family members died and it became a stressful time in my life. When I attended his funeral, I realized how much I disliked them because of how sad they made everyone. Later, I vaguely remembered seeing an article about funeral strippers and someone saying somewhere that they wanted to turn their casket into a jack-in-the-box. I thought they were pretty funny ideas and that having a fun funeral would make people a little less sad.

Death can come suddenly and without warning, and it can happen to anyone. It’s sad and scary, but it's something everyone comes to experience. It can be difficult to bear but making it a little more fun and lighthearted helps make the transition easier, which is what I wanted this film to

do. It’s chaotic and all over the place, but it brings a smile to your face.

I didn’t want this film to be super depressing despite its subject matter, so I got inspiration from the show Bee and Puppycat. Their soft, comforting world inspired me to give this film a

saturated color palette, design a wacky, nature filled world for these weird looking characters to live (and die) in, and use my hand drawn animation skills to make them move in eccentric styles.

I hope that when the inevitable happens, there will be comfort within the sadness and that Triggy and all his antics serve as a reminder that even though someone we love is gone, everything is going to be okay.