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
04/06/2026
Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p-compatible PTZ auto-frami...
04/06/2026
This recent grad from Spring, TX, led creative-video output for the Aggies' men's basketball team last season and has been producing video and creating ...
04/06/2026
For the first time at a women's golf major, every player in the field will r...
04/06/2026
Three Panasonic PT-RQ45 40,000-lumen 3-Chip DLP projectors made their first live...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin and Akamai have announced a collaboration with NRJ Group, a French mult...
04/06/2026
Telestream will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7952), demonstrating media work...
04/06/2026
Sony has announced the development of RIALTO 65, a 65mm format image sensor block for the VENICE 2 digital cinema camera, targeting release in the first half of...
04/06/2026
KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N8025, June ...
04/06/2026
Bell Media's TSN and RDS are the exclusive Canadian broadcasters of FIFA Wor...
04/06/2026
The Challenge: Receiving Heavy Media Files From Road Games Quickly and ReliablyT...
04/06/2026
MASV, a managed file transfer platform used in broadcast and live sports product...
04/06/2026
NESN has announced the appointment of Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Haider returns to NESN, where he previously served as Vice P...
04/06/2026
David J. Halberstam, who spent almost 50 years in sports as a broadcaster and an executive, died June 2 after a years-long battle with brain cancer.
Over his l...
04/06/2026
Although collegiate production programs are tasked with delivering high-quality ...
04/06/2026
California studio, two production trucks, global distribution system are combine...
04/06/2026
New global program empowers and supports storytellers through scriptwriting course and access to industry experts
TikTok and Sundance Institute today announce...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...
04/06/2026
American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
RTX Spark - a 1-Petaflop Superchip, the Full...
04/06/2026
Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Simone Grattarola discusses shaping the look in DaVinci Resolve...
04/06/2026
Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Ed Lachman ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, and M. David M...
04/06/2026
St. Vincents Live with Orchestra Tour to Feature Berklee Alum Ruby Plume Berklee alumni St. Vincent and Ruby Plume will appear on the same bill across seven d...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
All the Truth in My Lies Coming to Netflix on August 28
Entertainment
04 June 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Download the imag...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Larry Tanz, VP of Content, EMEA, Delivers a Keynote Speech at ...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Turn Your Living Room into a Stadium With the New FIFA World ...
04/06/2026
Keeping conversations real on LinkedIn Published on Jun 4, 2026 Categories: Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Share
LinkedIn
Facebook ...
04/06/2026
June's forecast with GeForce NOW: 100% chance of gaming.
GeForce NOW is lining up new adventures for the month, from big-name blockbusters to quirky indies...
03/06/2026
SES and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, have launched multi-orbit satellite inflight connectivity on Viva's Airbus aircraft. A total of 60 A320s ...
03/06/2026
The College Football Playoff, ESPN, and TNT Sports have announced kick times and...
03/06/2026
RED Digital Cinema will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 (Booth 33, June 5-6, Universal Studios Lot), hosting three panels and hands-on product demonstrations.
P...
03/06/2026
Roku has announced the Soccer Zone, a dedicated hub for FIFA World Cup 2026 content available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argent...
03/06/2026
Liverpool FC and Wasabi Technologies have announced a multi-year extension of their partnership, with Wasabi continuing as the club's official cloud storage...
03/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP as part of the relocation of its n...
03/06/2026
The Riedel Group has announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 201...
03/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the deployment of its intercom solutions at Itaka Arena ...
03/06/2026
Scott Coker has announced six senior executive appointments for his new global MMA promotion, which launched earlier this year with $60 million in financing. Ad...
03/06/2026
Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the FIFA World Cup 2026, has announced its digital and social media programming for the tournament, running Ju...
03/06/2026
The Bundesliga has announced the launch of Captain, an AI assistant built into t...
03/06/2026
Anthony James Partners (AJP) is serving as technology consultant for a moderniza...
03/06/2026
Audio-Technica has announced the recipients of its annual sales rep firm awards for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The awards were presented by Jim Schanz, Executive ...
By Vanessa Zimmer
