Two years ago, HyunJeen Lee set out to make a film about the playfully platonic relationship between herself and a male friend, a fellow student at New York’s School of Visual Arts, but audience members may not exactly get that when they watch her finished short.

 

After all, to play the role of herself, she cast an animated fish.

 

Whether they got it or not, the judges for Sony Pictures’ Crackle.com short film contest were wowed by Lee’s unconventional five-minute comedy that mixes animation with live action, and recently crowned “Fish” its winner. She’ll be meeting with Columbia Pictures executives, who served as judges for the contest, to discuss a possible feature film.

A Seoul native who came to the U.S. in 2003 to study, Lee admits her film — which shows the fish hanging out at its human pal’s apartment, taking a nap there, slurping down pasta — is a bit unusual and at times, even a little gross (there’s a fight sequence involving “balls” of passed gas). But she insists “Fish” portrays the everyday interactions between her and real-life best friend ChulHwan, who played himself in the film.

Her message: Men and women can be just friends. “What’s important is our connection,” says the filmmaker, who used a fish as a metaphor because determining their gender isn’t easy.

 

When the 28-year-old meets with the movie execs, perhaps she can pitch it as the flip side to “When Harry Met Sally” with a much clammier Meg Ryan.