OUT THERE
A project by Tibo Travers and Simon Ryninks
The Producer
Tibo Travers founded SweetDoh, a production company whose slate of fifteen short films have received two BAFTA long-lists, festival awards and selections including Palm Springs, Chicago International and Raindance.
Made with support from the BFI, Creative England and Film London, Tibo’s productions have received worldwide distribution with NITV, Premium Films and Shorts International and have aired on Canal+, Vice TV and RTÉ.
Tibo also produces for Raw TV, Minnow Films and Passion Pictures, and has worked as 1st Assistant Director on thirteen feature films. He is a Senior Visiting Lecturer in Film Production at Royal Holloway University of London.
The Director
Simon Ryninks is a writer-director of films that are funny, tender and gently political.
His latest short, THE PLUNGE, starring Lydia Wilson, was BAFTA long-listed and his previous short film, CONTRACTOR 014352, starring Johnny Flynn, won Best European Film at Brest Film Festival and aired on Canal+ in over fifty countries. His films have screened at festivals including Chicago International, Palm Springs Shortfest, and London Short Film Festival.
Simon is currently writing his first feature, OUT THERE, and developing a slate of other projects for film and television.He has devised and directed several site-specific live productions which use interactive technologies to explore history and social change. He is a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London.
About the project
OUT THERE is an ambitious comedy-drama coming-of-age story with zippy dialogue, loveable characters, and a liberal dose of sci-fi fun. Inspired by the Welsh UFO sightings of the 1970s, in particular the Berwyn Mountain incident (dubbed “Roswelsh” by the media) and the Broadhaven sightings of the late 1970s, it draws upon the country’s unique voice and sense of humour, along with the landscapes of its west and southwest regions.
The film is a humanistic look at belief, asking key questions: how do you maintain a connection with someone whose beliefs differ from your own? How do we justify our beliefs? How do we justify and accept the beliefs of our loved ones? Should we value our beliefs above our relationships?
The actor Johnny Flynn is attached to play the part of Brynn - a secondary lead - and he has been involved in the project’s development. Like Simon, Johnny has roots in Wales, having spent his teenage years living in Pembrokeshire, where his family still resides. Johnny starred in Netflix show LOVESICK, BAFTA-winning feature drama BEAST, and will be playing David Bowie in the upcoming feature biopic STARDUST.