By Vanessa Zimmer
Instant Life is a saga of showmanship, stubbornness, and the love of Sea Monkeys.
Showing in a three-hour block in the Indie Episodic section of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, the docuseries follows the life of Harold von Braunhut, magician, entrepreneur, and mad scientist, and the woman who became his wife and business partner, Yolanda Signorelli.
Harold, we learn, walked into a pet shop one day and admired the tiny brine shrimp wriggling in the aquarium. The cute critters with big heads and long tails would make good pets, he observed. The store owner scoffed. They're fish food, he said. They only live a couple of days.
Harold, the maker of such novelty toys as Invisible Goldfish and X-Ray Specs, went home determined to find a way to make the creatures thrive. And by 1960 or 1961, he was selling Amazing Live Sea Monkeys from ads in the back of comic books. They were a hit.
Along the way, Harold met and married Yolanda, an actress in exploitation movies, and he taught her the secret formula and instructions for making the monkeys. Harold died in 2003, and she took over. She continued supplying the powders and food packets, and a manufacturer put them all together in kits.
But come 2012, the manufacturer stopped paying her and outsourced to China. Yolanda sued. Whether they like it or not, I am the mother of the Sea Monkeys, she says.
Four years since her last royalty check, the electricity at her Maryland home has been cut off for nonpayment. Still, she continues fulfilling the Sea Monkey guarantee. With wood ablaze in the fireplace and candles lit, she meticulously responds to letters and sends out replacement kits at her own expense. The counterfeits from China are inferior, she says.
She is hard and stoic in fighting for the Sea Monkey business, but soft and loving to the creatures in the woods surrounding her home, property that she has turned into a wildlife refuge. She mourns the death of her soulmate, the parrot named Josephine, who died in her arms - a loss she blames on the situation she's been thrust into. She feeds crackers to the birds, cookies to the raccoons. She contrived a bug collector that allows her to scoop up insects inside the house and release them outdoors.
We need to protect animals because they don't have a voice, and they can't collaborate like people do, she says adamantly. In her mind, that extends to a Sea Monkey: Even though it's considered a toy, it's a living being.
Yolanda agreed to let directors/producers/cinematographers Mark Becker and Aaron Schock tell her story. She let us into her world, and it's been an incredible experience, Becker said in the recorded Q&A following the screening.
Yolanda didn't shy away from the darker sides of the story, including a disturbing aspect of Harold's history. Sometimes you live with someone a long time and you don't know them she says in the film. There was a side he never revealed to me.
Becker and Schock intended to make a 90-minute documentary film, but in the editing process had to face the fact that the story was too complex to pare down that radically. They have the three episodes shown at the Festival, and more to come.
Said Becker: You are going to be hearing about our Sea Monkey family for some time to come.
North America Stories
08/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 1By SVG Staff
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 6:56 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2025...
08/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Bill Rasmussen, the Entrepreneur Who Drea...
08/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Live Production Innovation Workshop Goes Deep on ST 211...
08/12/2025
#GALSNGEAR Announces East, West Leadership Retreats for 2026By Ken Kerschbaumer
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 9:10 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story High...
08/12/2025
MediaKind Acquiring Harmonic's Video Business to Create New Streaming-Video ...
08/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Sony HDR/SDR Camera Shading Techniques for Live Production...
08/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: NESN's Kenny Elcock and Harmonic's Jean Macher Talk Next-G...
08/12/2025
Monsters Funday Football,' ESPN's Latest Live Animation Effort, Advances...
08/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ESPN Director Jeff Nelson on Calling the (Animated) Action on Mon...
08/12/2025
Monsters Funday Football': Louisiana Philharmonic Delivers Again With Orches...
08/12/2025
Nielsen's robust data offering enables marketers to connect with their target audience more effectively and drive better results throughout Amazon's adv...
08/12/2025
LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK Paramount has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with an all-cash tender offer to acquire all of the outstandin...
08/12/2025
EMERYVILLE, Calif. Media and entertainment technology and services provider Advanced Systems Group has named Macky Beheshti as director, enterprise storage and ...
08/12/2025
DENVER MediaKind, a global provider of cloud-based video streaming technology announced today that it is acquiring the video business of Harmonic Inc. for appro...
08/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsen has announced that its Audience Segments from Nielsen Marketing Cloud (NMC) are now available across the Amazon Ads marketplace, including the ...
08/12/2025
Marshall Electronics showcases the CV355-27X-ND3 Optical Zoom NDI (NDI HX2, NDI HX3) Camera at ISE 2026 (Booth 4N900). Designed for users seeking high-quality ...
08/12/2025
Cinnafilm today announced the immediate availability of IPx LIVE and Tachyon LIVE, delivering broadcast-grade, real-time IP video transcoding and motion-compens...
08/12/2025
Following a successful 45th anniversary year in 2024, Hiltron reports increasing demand for its wide range of satellite communication equipment manufacturing, p...
08/12/2025
When was the last time you updated your default playlist(s)? A default playlist keeps your station(s) on the air should your team ever miss a step in sending mu...
08/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix ISP Speed Index for November 2025
Product
08 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
This month marks 15 years of the Netfl...
08/12/2025
Back to All News
Another Exciting Chapter in Our Book-to-Screen Journey and What's to Come
Entertainment
08 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboa...
07/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Takes Over the Oslo Skyline With Celebratory Troll 2 L...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public commen...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
By Vanessa Zimmer
