Posted July 16, 2025 by Raquel Stecher Short Films

Mermaid, Bitch

“I have scales. This is so f***ed!”

True friendship endures many challenges. But what if one of those challenges happens to be a mermaid transformation?

Written, produced and directed by Victoria Negri (Gold Star), the short film Mermaid, Bitch is a quirky and heartfelt fantasy-comedy about a young woman who wakes up to discover she’s sprouted a mermaid tail overnight. Lily (Alexi Pappas) calls her bestie Ruby (Ruby McCollister) in a panic. After a night of shenanigans and a potentially transformative tarot reading, Lily is now a mermaid and she needs help. Lily and Ruby set out on an adventure through the streets of Los Angeles to get Lily out to her new home: the ocean. Will their friendship survive this radical shift?

“You’re assuming that it is so easy to just become something else and instantly become an advocate for whatever it is that you are and that’s actually really hard to do.”

Mermaid, Bitch is sweet and laugh-out-loud funny. The story can be interpreted as a metaphor for personal transformation and embracing a new identity and the struggles that come with that. It also delivers a nice message about how to be a supportive friend through life’s obstacles.

I can’t help but think that the young adults who grew up reading the Emily Windsnap books as kids would find this story, especially with its Gen Z type of humor, absolutely hilarious.

Alexi Pappas—Olympic athlete and star of the film Olympic Dreams (2019)—and Ruby McCollister play off each other beautifully both giving their characters a unique interpretation of youthful angst. I quite enjoyed seeing the director Victoria Negri‘s cameo as the seemingly judgmental passerby who is surprised by Lily’s mermaid tail.