News - 26 Jun `25šŸŽ¬ A Talking Goldfish and a Teenage Heroine See the World on June 25, 2025

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What if the person who finally understood you… wasn’t a person at all?

Meet Lorrie, the 15-year-old heroine of Calico, a short film (IMDB) that dares to tell a story we’ve never seen before: one where vitiligo isn’t the side note, but the soul of the journey.

Bullied at school and misunderstood by teachers, Lorrie hides in comics and drawings, until she meets someone even more out of place: a mottled goldfish stuck in a school tank… who talks. No, really. And he wants out.

Together, they dive (sometimes literally) into a whimsical, emotional adventure that’s part magical realism, part raw truth. This isn’t just a story about escaping a tank — it’s about escaping shame, silence, and invisibility.

Calico isn’t just a film about vitiligo — it mirrors the movement behind it. Like World Vitiligo Day itself, it uses creativity and connection to spark visibility, empathy, and change.

Directed by Jake Mavity, who has vitiligo himself, and co-written by Sarah Mavity, Calico is not just another coming-of-age tale. It’s a call for representation—wrapped in wit and watercolor. A goldfish revolution, if you will.

The film from Rogue explores what it means to feel like an outsider — and the courage it takes to gain confidence in your individuality.

And launching during World Vitiligo Day 2025 in Toronto, it couldn’t have landed on a more powerful stage.

That year’s WVD wasn’t just a medical summit. It was a global celebration of skin diversity, innovation, and lived experience. Held in Canada for the first time, it brought together patients, clinicians, AI pioneers, and artists under the theme “Innovation for Every Skin.” Inside a packed theater—while Toronto’s skyline lit up purple for the #Lit4Vit campaign—Calico premiered to an audience hungry for a story like this.

The response was electric.

Audiences laughed. Cried. Exhaled. And for many—especially those living with vitiligo—something rare happened: they felt seen.

“One girl turned to me afterward and said, ‘I didn’t know I was allowed to be the main character,’” shared one of the event organizers. “That’s what Calico did. It gave permission.”

Visually, the film is a dream — soft, surreal, and grounded in emotional truth. Malaysia Newland shines as Lorrie, bringing quiet strength to a role that could have easily tipped into pity. Jamali Maddix gives the goldfish a biting wit and surprising warmth. Behind the camera, Murren Tullett and Sullivan Gayless infuse every frame with intimacy, turning ordinary moments into something mythic.

“Once you realize no one else minds your difference as much as you think they do,” Newland has said, “you start to live again.”

Just as tools like the AI Vitiligo App made care more accessible, Calico made empathy visible — using art as technology’s human twin.

And the story didn’t stop in Toronto.

From Berlin’s Courage in Film Showcase to Newport Beach’s Spotlight Shorts, Calico has taken the international festival circuit by storm. It’s been called “a love letter to outsiders,” “a triumph of inclusive storytelling,” and “one of the most original short films of the year.” The awards are stacking up—but what matters more is how it’s being used: in classrooms, support groups, advocacy circles, and family living rooms around the world.

As Yan Valle, CEO of the Vitiligo Research Foundation, put it:

“Calico is a gut-punch of truth and beauty. Your difference is your power. Own your story. The moment you stop hiding is the moment everything changes.”

The film became a signature moment in WVD-2025’s broader mission to center patients and push boundaries. That same week saw the launch of AI-powered support tools by Skinopathy, patient-led panels by Vitiligo Voices Canada, a global art competition, and public installations that made vitiligo visible — literally and figuratively — on a global scale.

Calico did more than debut. It made space. It told the kind of story that lingers. And it reminded us that representation isn’t a favor — it’s a necessity.

Because sometimes, it takes a girl, a goldfish, and a fearless short film to remind the world that difference isn’t what separates us — it’s what makes us art.

šŸ† See Calico’s full festival journey — check out that poster!

šŸŽ¬ Watch the trailer

šŸ“· Check out Instagram

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