After a huge number of submissions for Tokyo Lift-Off Film Festival, here are the 5 screenplays officially selected to go forward onto the Network platform. Congratulations all! In order to read the screenplays, sign up to the Network here!
Finding Alexandria – Sayem Huq
SYNOPSIS:A professional treasure hunter wants to quit the business after his recklessness results in the death of his colleague and best friend, but has to join his ex-fiancee in finding the lost Library of Alexandria before a band of terrorists and evil treasure hunters discover it and its untold bounty, first.
Pernilla’s Gift – Carmel Joyce
SYNOPSIS: Born into a rural Swedish community of religious restraints, Pernilla knew if she stayed in Gammalthorp, her life would be filled with hard-labouring, farm work and delivering a baby yearly as her mother and grandmother did in their short lives. When her stepmother dies, Pernilla realises she must make a stand against all community authorities of father, church and state. Eloping with Carl, a boy she has known since childhood, to the nearby town of Karlshamn, Pernilla’s spoilt and reckless nature charts a course that continues to take her into troubled waters. After losing Carl, she endures many challenges as her plans begin to unravel. She is pregnant and alone but determined to survive in the cold town of heartless despair where everyone must have church and state on their side, or are forced into desperate measures to stay alive. She does survive, but at what cost. What is to become of this family of two?
Pernilla’s Gift evolved from the life story of an Australian pioneer. As a genealogist and writer of true Australian pioneer screenplays, I was inspired to write, “PERNILLA’S GIFT” when I discovered the story of one such illegal pioneer, a bosun who left a trail of deceit about his true past in Sweden. One has to admire any single mum who despite an unsympathetic community of religious restraint, holds fearlessly on to her freedom of expression until she faces risking it all, for the sake of her son’s freedom.
Pernilla’s Gift’s has a universal appeal for viewing audiences as it relates to the historical times of true hardships and moral attitudes women were subjected to in Sweden’s past history. “The Bosun”, is the sequel screenplay to Pernilla’s Gift, where both were written to flow on from each other, which could then be easily adapted for a TV miniseries. PERNILLA’S GIFT and its sequel can be filmed anywhere in the world.
Happy Birthday, Julio – David Juarez
SYNOPSIS: A teenager named Julio, is going through a struggle in his life on his birthday. But soon, meets a horrifying fate.
What was the inspiration behind this screenplay?
When I was coming up with a story, I looked back at my teen life. When I was a teenager, I was going through a dark time to the point that I went against my own birthday. It somewhat a true story. Some of it in the script is true, but most is fiction.
What are you looking for to take this project to the next stage?
I hope that either I or someone can direct it, and keep summiting it on other festivals to see where it can get.
What advice has helped you get where you are now?
Just keep writing and what ever comes up in your head. Not only use your mind, but your heart.
READ THE SCREENPLAY HERE
The First Law – DJ McPherson
SYNOPSIS: A grieving robotics engineer goes to extreme lengths to protect her children from the global pandemic that took her husband.
The First Law is a story of a real human dilemma within a sci-fi backdrop. The inspiration for the story stemmed from my own grief following the sudden death of my brother. I wanted to write a sci-fi piece but I also wanted to make sure it was grounded in real human emotion. So I started with my own grief and used it to unpin my protagonist’s emotional arc. Although The First Law is a sci-fi thriller, it’s cerebral and cryptic and permeated with an ominous mood and themes that are intensely moving.
Emotional Control – David Goldstein
SYNOPSIS: A Sci-Fi tale involving a human crew captured by an alien race for the purpose of supplying them with emotions. They cannot generate any feelings on their own, but must force others in rather dangerous ways to generate strong emotions they can receive and experience telepathically.
You must be logged in to post a comment.