Introduction
We are a group of actors completing our final year at Catalyst Institute for Creative Arts and Technology that have written a script entirely based on improvisations. Now, we need your help to make this project happen.
But first, let me explain how we got here. Since April, we actors were given the task of developing our characters. From there we brought them to life by spending long periods of time inhabiting these characters: eating food as them, going to the supermarket as them, visiting churches and cemeteries as them. In September, we finally got to meet each other's characters, building relationships and improvising scenes together, most of which end up in some shape or form in the final film.
And from those improvisations we started building the characters and story we would like to share with you.
Story
This film follows a group of young expats living in Berlin and the difficulties they encounter as the political climates escalates.
Carlos and Layla are siblings by birth, raised in very different situations. In Berlin they fight to find common ground as Carlos confronts demons of the past through drug addiction, and Layla faces employment challenges in her firm. Jeff and Jaime work in a small vegan restaurant and need to put personalities aside to support each other as visa issues arise and customers stop coming in. Rose, also struggling to maintain her financial affairs, has a plan to diversify her flower shop business to imports of illicit substances. She chooses to put her body on the line to save her relationship with Carlos. Maddie and Ezra are colleagues in a psychiatric facility and are pushed to the limit of their working relationship as government regulations start to affect their ability to provide care to their patients.
As the European Union slowly begins to crumble, interpersonal relationships are put to the test and humanity is uncovered at its best and worst.
Setting
Berlin is like another character in this film. This city has such a rich and complicated past, and we want to use just that: the architecture, its beauty, its proximity to nature, and the duality of being both progressive and imposingly authoritarian.
Characters
Layla, played by Milena Rendón
Layla is an independent successful career woman from Mexico. She has a hard time accepting that her younger brother Carlos and his partner Rose are using drugs. She is very much in love with her partner Maddie.
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Carlos, played by Paolo Schoene
Carlos is a small time drug dealer from Puerto Rico, who struggles with addiction, has a quite strained relationship with his sister Layla, but is in love with is girlfriend Rose.
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Jeff, played by Siebe Schoneveld
Jeff the chef is a ladies man from the Netherlands who can’t hold down a relationship, he works hard but plays harder until he is asked to step up and take responsibility as the world around him starts falling apart.
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Maddie, played by Sabine Schröder
Maddie is a German psychiatric nurse who works in a clinic where they provide treatment for mental illness and drug addiction. She is sweet, caring and professional and has a platonic soft spot for her patient Carlos.
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Ezra, played by Edan Rowett
Ezra is Maddie's colleague, a loner who struggles to form close relationships despite trying earnestly. He has a crush on Maddie and takes it personally when the love he has for her is unrequited.
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Jaime, played by Daniel Straube
Jaime is sous chef in a small vegan restaurant, he loves food and people but cannot stand the rise of the right wing in Berlin. He is determined to fight back against the rising tide of fascism.
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Rose, played by Sara Rut
Rose is a 25 year old florist from Iceland. She works in a flower shop in Berlin and lives with Jeff and her boyfriend Carlos. As drug laws tighten and prices soar, she comes up with a plan to make a lot of money by putting her life and her freedom at risk.
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About the Director
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Adam is the Screen Acting Lead at Catalyst Institute for Creative Arts and Technology. As an actor, director and scriptwriter, he has experienced the film industry from all angles. In his native New Zealand, he trained as an undergraduate in Stage and Screen Acting, before going on to get a Masters in Directing at the Toi Whakaari Drama School. Since then, Adam’s career has taken him from New Zealand to Australia, the USA and, Germany.
Crew
Producer - Agostina Cerdan Niell
Director of Cinematography - Alan Dresti
Assistant Director - Guðrún Björg Sigurðardóttir
Art Design - Isabelle Schmitz
Sound Operator - Lawrence Bolton
Gaffer - Jayden Bailey
What we need
This project is run entirely by volunteers that are committing their time, energy, and resources to bring this film to life. Luckily enough, we have the main locations covered. And by still being in film school we have access to a camera, light and grip equipment. So the money from this fundraiser will go directly into feeding our cast and crew, transporting the equipment, and distribution fees.
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Food: A well fed crew is a happy crew, and with a happy crew the final result is always better. Two meals a day for a month represents a major cost in the production.
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Transportation: This will cover the costs to move the equipment to our different locations around the city.
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Distribution: Of course once is made, we will love to put our film out there! We need to set some money aside for festival applications, marketing and streaming platform fees.
