Super stoked to announce the launch of The Spider Within: A SpiderVerse Story, teaming up with the Kevin Love Fund. 'Cause hey, even superheroes like Miles Morales have their moments. Let's dive in! ✨

Sony Pictures Animation has teamed up with the Kevin Love Fund to digitally release the animated short film, The Spider Within: A SpiderVerse Story, that will be incorporated into the Kevin Love Fund’s new mental health focused lesson plan, “The Hero Within.” The lesson plan invites students to tell their own story through the lens of mental health awareness via an interactive curriculum including a creative storyboard activity. Visit kevinlovefund.org for additional information.

In the genrebending thriller The Spider Within: A SpiderVerse Story, Miles Morales struggles to balance his responsibilities as a teenager, friend, and student while acting as Brooklyn’s friendly neighborhood SpiderMan. After a particularly challenging day living with these pressures, Miles experiences a panic attack that forces him to confront the manifestations of his anxiety and learn that reaching out for help can be just as brave an act as protecting his city from evil.

The Spider Within: A SpiderVerse Story was developed and produced in the inaugural year of Sony Pictures Animation (SPA) and Sony Pictures Imageworks’ (SPI) Leading and Empowering New Storytellers (LENS) program, a 9month leadership training program that provides candidates from underrepresented groups with an opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience in animation. The final deliverable of the program is an alloriginal short film, set in the existing world of a feature produced by SPA and SPI.

The LENS program is backed by Sony Pictures Entertainment’s global, multipronged racial equity and inclusion strategy, Sony Pictures Action. The program’s goal is to provide creatives who have traditionally lacked access to leadership roles with a firsthand opportunity to deepen their understanding of every element of the animated filmmaking process including production design, animation, visual effects, lighting, sound, and various postproduction processes. Through the program, participants strengthen their ability to effectively articulate their film’s creative vision and collaborate across a variety of disciplines.

The Spider Within: A SpiderVerse Story is directed by Jarelle Dampier and written by Khailia Amazon, and produced by LENS program creators Michelle RaimoKouyate and David Schulenburg. Rounding out the inaugural LENS team are Clara Chan who served as VFX supervisor and Joe Darko who served as animation supervisor.

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