AMAZING LIVE SEA MONKEYS

description

From her crumbling estate on the Potomac, Yolanda Signorelli is engaged in a David-and-Goliath battle to wrest control of her late husband Harold’s iconic toy Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys back from the corporate men who she insists stole them from her.

Harold von Braunhut and Yolanda Signorelli had worked together for forty years before Harold – a genius magician, scientist and inventor – passed away and left his iconic novelty toy in Yolanda’s care. With an explosive reveal, AMAZING LIVE SEA MONKEYS dives into the depths of the American psyche, as inventor von Braunhut harbored a dark secret. Yolanda alone possesses the true Sea-Monkeys formula and she alone must free them, not only from their captors, but also from the stain of her husband’s tarnished legacy.

OFFICIAL SELECTION
SXSW Film Festival 2026
Tallgrass Film Festival 2026
DOC NYC 2026

DIRECTOR'S BIO
Mark Becker co-directed and edited the documentary ART AND CRAFT (2014), which was shortlisted for the 2015 Academy Awards and nominated for an Emmy. Becker’s first film was the documentary ROMÁNTICO (2005), which premiered at Sundance and received two Independent Spirit Award nominations. In addition, Becker was the supervising editor of THE LIBRARIANS (CUFF.Docs 2025 Selection); he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and won the Humanitas Prize for VOW OF SILENCE: THE ASSASSINATION OF ANNIE MAE (2024) on Hulu; he co-wrote and edited the Emmy-nominated documentary CIRCO (2011); he directed and edited the Emmy-nominated PRESSURE COOKER (2008) for Participant Media; and he edited the
Independent Spirt Award winning LOST BOYS OF SUDAN (2003). Becker is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

DIRECTOR'S BIO
Emmy-nominated director Aaron Schock holds a MA in public policy from Columbia University. His feature documentary CIRCO premiered at the Los Angeles and BFI London Film Festivals, won the grand jury prize at the Hamptons International Film Festival (among other awards), was distributed theatrically in the US, UK, and Canada and shown nationally on PBS’s Independent Lens and internationally on HBO. His short film LA LAGUNA received a Cinema Eye Honors Award, and won Best Documentary Short at Woodstock Film Festival and the Panavision Best North American Short at the Palm Springs Film Festival, among other awards. His production company Hecho A Mano Films (“Hand Made Films”) is a New York City-based documentary production company specializing in visually compelling, character-driven, point-of-view storytelling.