Heart-warming animation tells true story of adorable lesbian couple who found lockdown love on Tinder

Tinder short film lesbian romance lockdown

Tinder has released a lockdown-inspired animated short film telling the true story of a lesbian couple who swiped right during the pandemic.

The short, a collaboration between queer singer-songwriter GrapeGuitarBox and queer illustrator Deepti Sharma, begins with a woman called Priya, from Mumbai, sitting alone in a room, swiping on Tinder.

When Priya comes across the profile Meera, she immediately smiles and swipes right, before they match.

The women quickly begin a conversation, with messages flying back and forth all day.

Priya is initially disappointed when she wakes in the morning to see she has no new messages on Tinder, but then she receives a video call from Meera, and the rest is history.

The beautiful animated short shows the women surviving lockdown together, keeping each other company through Zoom calls and planning their eventual meeting when lockdown is over.

Sharing the video on YouTube, Tinder India wrote: “There’s a lot to love about dating in 2020. Based on a true story, this is how Meera and Priya met on Tinder, worked together on Zoom, introduced their pets to each other virtually, kept each other company online, and started something epic!”

The video has already racked up its fair share of fans, with one person commenting: “This is so beautiful. The music, the art direction, the animation, all the detailing has so much love in it.”

The short film was made in association with the Museum of Queer Swipe Stories, a curated archival project by Tinder and the Gaysi Family that aims to document “the many moods, experiences, and complexities of queer dating”.

Apps have become a lifeline for many queer people throughout the coronavirus pandemic, offering some the chance to connect with others while observing coronavirus restrictions.

However, the pandemic has made dating difficult, with governments in many countries recommending that people avoid hook-ups.

In August, leading sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust told people to avoid kissing and face-to-face sexual positions in an effort to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 while having sex.

Masks should also be worn during sexual encounters, the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) said, following research it carried out in partnership with sexual health clinic 56 Dean Street.