After a huge number of submissions for Amsterdam Lift-Off Film Festival, here are the 5 screenplays officially selected to go forward onto the Community platform. Congratulations all! In order to read the screenplays, sign up to the Lift-Off Community here:
Mamali – Jeff Opdyke
SYNOPSIS: Based on a true story: A young girl from the the lowest caste of Indian society is sold by her mother to be a maidservant, and ends up a three-time runaway before ultimately living her dream of playing soccer (football) for India’s national team.
What was the inspiration behind this script?
I was traveling in Tunisia for The Wall Street Journal, writing a piece about a British soccer coach who had taken over the Somali national team. As part of my research on soccer in the Middle East and North Africa, I came across the tiniest blurb about a young girl who finally received her passport to play for the Indian national team. Well, i thought, that sounds interesting.
I dug a bit and found out that this girl had been sold to be a servant at a young age, had run away from her “owners,” and had made the Indian national team for under-15-year-old girls. I sensed a story there. So, I spent about a month looking for the orphanage in which she lived. I finally found her; I flew to India; and I spent a week or so with her, learning about and recording her story … and from that sprang my script.
What are you looking for to take this project to the next stage?
Well, in theory, two divisions of Sony have expressed some interest in this already, as has an independent director with several credits to his name, But I have no clue where any of that will go. So I guess what I need is a producer / director really committed to telling this story on film.
What advice has helped you get where you are now?
I don’t know that there was any. I am new to Hollywood. I left a professional writing career to move to Los Angeles to pursue my dream of writing TV/movies. But despite the success my scripts and screenplays have had, I’ve learned Hollywood is not place that cares about white men over 50 years old who are new to the business. In the midst of the #MeToo movement, we are not seen as a source of creativity and ideas … we are seen as a potential liability. So, I cannot say that i have had much help. But I did find a producer who fell in love with my writing, and she has been championing me and her connections are the reason Sony and the indie director saw this script in the first place — and why they each have expressed interest in it.
SYNOPSIS: In the frozen Finnish wilderness of 1939’s Winter War, a simple woodsman becomes the most feared sniper in history as he and his countrymen defend their homeland against the unbeatable Soviet army.
What was the inspiration behind the screenplay?
Our co-writer Rurik Peterson told us of the true story of Simo Hayha, a Finnish sniper during the Winter War who is still to this day considered to be the greatest sniper in military history. The more we learned about his amazing story the more we kept saying that somebody should turn this into a movie. Finally one day we decided that we should just go ahead and write the script ourselves!
What are you looking for to take this project to the next stage?
At this stage we’re looking for either some sort of representation (manager,agent) or for a producer with financiers that are used to bigger budgets to take a chance on us and start developing our screenplay. I have produced very low budget films before but because of the nature of this film (a war movie) there is no way that this can be made without a proper sized budget.
What advice has helped to get where you are now?
We took advice from two groups of people: our family and friends with no experience reading scripts, and colleagues of ours that work in the film business as writers and directors that have had experience writing screenplays. We took advice from both groups and made changes to the script and we turned down advice from both groups if we all agreed that it would hurt the script. All in all the support we received has been greatly beneficial.
SYNOPSIS: A psychologist in pre-war Berlin works with a young man, helping him to become more self-confident. Having gained the desired confidence, the young man becomes a member of the SS and a security guard in a concentration camp, where the psychologist turns out to be a prisoner. Now it is up to the psychologist to test the effectiveness of his skills on his patient in order to get out alive.
What was the inspiration behind this screenplay?
This script was inspired by my childhood, my impressions of living in Russia, Germany, Israel and the USA, and by 6 years of my psychology counselling practice in contemporary autocratic Russia. While practicing psychology I had the chance to see the clear tie between one’s childhood trauma and their suggestibility for fascist propaganda. The following books also were an incredible source of inspiration: “For Your Own Good” by Alice Miller, “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl, “Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations” by Bruno Bettelheim, “Banality of Evil” by Hannah Arendt, and “Sapiens. A brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Harari.
What are you looking for to take this project to the next stage?
I’m looking for reliable partners for producing this film – partners who are concerned with today’s world challenges and who – like me – are convinced that fascism cannot be defeated by purely military means. The clichéd words “victory over fascism” are not true in the 21st Century. Fascism has never been defeated, it has merely been stopped and it will get reborn time and time again until we fully understand its true nature.
What advice has helped you get where you are now?
It was the advice of my second self, which told me not to be afraid of taking the most risky path.
SYNOPSIS: Rachel Hill is single and in her thirties. Since her mother died, she has had an unstoppable wanderlust, ‘Dromomania’, her father, John, calls it. She is under pressure from Kirsty, her domineering older sister, to conform to Kirsty’s idea of family life. Rachel, however, knows her life will never be settled until she discovers what it really means to be Rachel.
What was the inspiration behind this script?
I self published my novel Girl Gone Greek in May 2015. By November 2017 it was selling well on Amazon and I wanted to take it to the next stage. The premise ofGirl Gone Greek – I felt – had an important message to convey: that Greece was not the negative country and poor /lazy man of Europe that everyone was saying it was in the International Press. I wanted to portray my experience of Greece, and my novel was a fictionalised version of that. The script came after I collaborated with British Scriptwriter James Collins who also lives in Greece and has an affinity to the country too. We liaised closely to create the final outcome and keep it as close to the book as possible, with the added edge of an international organisation environment. I wanted to introduce this feature as I believe it is very timely and topical, especially given the ‘state’ of Europe and the EU and the political issues we see arising. But I didn’t want to make it overly political. I wanted it more nuanced and wanted the message: that Greece is a country that can maybe help Europe come back from the brink – to be more subtly conveyed so it reaches a wider audience…not an overtly political drama.
What are you looking for to take this project to the next stage?
The script has already won the Best Feature Fiction Script at the 2018 London Greek Film Festival. I want more international awareness so to win or even reach the final at another European Film Festival such as the AmsterdamLiftOff Festival is a real honour. I would like to see it taken seriously for production and need advice on how to do this, potential funding.
What advice has helped you get where you are now?
I am completely new to the industry but do have friends as I have interviewed a couple of film directors who use Greece as their inspiration on my site www.lifebeyondbordersblog.com They have helped me navigate the extreme complexities of this industry and my scriptwriter is a source of support.
SYNOPSIS: When a small-town clerk demands his father’s respect, days before emigrating to the New World, a seeming opportunity may come with a price — his family’s American dream.
What was the inspiration behind this screenplay?
I initially wrote the latter part of this duel-narrative, set in Brooklyn, 1963, as an outline for a stage play. While creating the backgrounds for the characters as a writing exercise, I realized I indeed recalled an actual family my grandfather once told me about long ago, embroiled in a tragic event in Italy, 1928. I subsequently traveled to his Tuscan village to research the event, and what I learned eventually became the former part of this duel-narrative, set in Monte Chiaro, 1928.
What are you looking for to take this project to the next stage?
Throughout the years of working Face Painters with friends, managers, and consultants, the names of the same well-known actors repeatedly came up as prime candidates for the principal roles. Today, I am evermore assured that these actors are perfect. Before pursuing production companies, introducing a polished screenplay to these very same actors should be foremost. I firmly believe they will commit to the project because of their long-proven appreciation for multilayered characters and the creative playground Face Painters offers. With this added support, producers will further see the potential in this sweeping screenplay: solid storytelling for the masses, who will gladly pay admission to be part of a cinematic experience on the order of the great epics of our past. Face Painters offers a boundless palette to work with, and with the right collaborators, will take a significant step forward on its path.
What advice has helped you get where you are now?
Drink heavily when creating, stay sober when proofing.
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