The Story
In the dawn of the Cold War, a young Soviet telegraphist makes a desperate attempt to save her American lover from being stranded in the Russian side of the Bering Strait after receiving a border closure message.
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Our Journey (so far!)
Fall 2016: Tomorrow Island's team meets in Universidade Lusofona (Lisbon, Portugal).
Spring 2017: Story development in Napier University (Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
Summer 2017: Story development in Baltic Film and Media School (Tallinn, Estonia)
Fall 2017: Script revisions, Budget, and Casting process.
January 2018: Rehearsals, production and costume design.
February 2018: Shooting week (at an average -10 C!) in Topu, Estonia.
March 2018: Editing and sound post begins.
April 2018 (Today!): Crowdfunding starts!
Meet the Cast & Team
Our film is set in the dawn of the Cold War and tells the story of Sveta, a Soviet telegraphist who desperately attempts to escape to America with her lover Illa after a message announcing a permanent border closure arrives.
Dary Butryk (Sveta)
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Daryna Butryk was born in a small town in Ukraine, in 1995. She is currently finishing her five-year degree in Acting in the National University of Arts in Argentina. She was awarded scholarships in acting training programmes both TELEFE’s (one of Argentina’s top TV channels) and Proyectarte Asoc. Civil. Daryna perfected her acting skills in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. As an actress she has starred in more than 40 projects including feature films, TV advertisements, TV series, TV shows, short films and theater plays in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Scotland, USA, France and Estonia. Besides acting, she also assists and coaches actors in body language and Russian expression.
Mira Gaydarova (Ila)
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She is a Bulgarian 24-year-old actress, who graduated in 2017 from the Theatre and Professional Practice programme at Coventry University, in the United Kingdom. From 2015 to 2016, she was also a student of the Atelier für physisches theater in Berlin. She has participated in a variety of theatrical projects including the companies ''Imagineer Productions'' (Coventry, UK), ''Must Kast'' (Tartu, Estonia), and ''The Lab'' (UK).
Director – Gwenn Joyaux (Argentina)
Argentine-French multi award-winning director and writer. She received a scholarship to attend to the 3º Seminar Program for Professional Latin American and European Film Producers at the Copenhagen Filmskolen. She has worked as AD and script supervisor in more than twenty films, commercials and series in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Bolivia.
As BA student, she has directed several fiction short films, commercials and documentary web series which have been part of the official selection at International Film Festivals in Argentina, America and Europe.
In 2009 Gwenn was the recipient of the INCAA’s Historias Breves award which led to her making her first professional short film “Cenizas” (Ashes). It premiered in theaters in 2012 and was screened at the 27th Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the only ‘Category A’ Latin American film festival.
Her next project, an unusual documentary self-portrait titled “Las dos mitades” (The two halves) had its world premier at Transatlantyk Film Festival in Poland, where it won the Jury Award of the Capturing Freedom Short Films Contest, and has since screened at multiple festivals, winning the 1st prize at Bendita Tú Film Festival in Spain.
Producer-Shruti Sidhan (India)
She is a self-motivated film producer with 7+ years experience in production of commercial ad films and print ads for brands such as Peter England, Puma, Intel, Nike, and Allen Solly. She has also worked in the production of short films and digital ads for Honda Jazz, Lipton Ice Tea, Gillette Venus, and Hero bikes. She was an associate producer for television series “Sathyamev Jayathe” (Star TV) and TV animation series “Dragons: Riders of Berk” (Dreamworks).
With a versatile background in sports,music and communications, a B.A degree in Business management and a post graduate in film & TV production ,she has been the president of the Toastmasters Club in Bangalore, India. She is also extremely passionate about travel, cooking, photography, and fashion.
Director of Photography – Michael Tebinka (Sweden)
Michael Tebinka is a Director of Photography & Freelance Colourist based in Sweden. At the border between artistic and technical development in moving images; Michael’s work spans across Commercial, Documentary and Film. Some of the international brands he has worked for include Warner, EMI, ASEAN Para Games, including commissioned artworks exhibited across the world.
Trained in Singapore & London respectively, he developed a visual language that fuse light and movement into a form that is much appreciated by his audience today. His dedication to artistic and technical development of digital film has contributed to his experience in both production and post, making him highly responsive to ever changing conditions and challenges on set and in post-production.
Michael is a member of the Association for Independent Filmmakers (OFF) in Sweden, Associate Member of Colorist Society International (CSI), Member of Medeaelectronique Artist Collective and Associate Visual Director at Philbeat in Singapore.
Writer- Ana Falcon (Mexico)
She is a writer with experience in developing content for the big screen, TV, and web. She won twice the Nuevo Leon Short Film Script Contest (Mexico, 2011/ 2014), and was awarded 3rd place and Honorable Mention in Atzavares Short Story Contest (Spain, 2009).
She was one of three Mexican filmmakers selected for the 2008 Fusion Arts Exchange in Screenwriting and Film Production hosted by the University of Southern California and the US State Department. In 2017, she was distinguished with a Young Creators grant from the Mexican Culture Ministry. In her free time, Ana enjoys cooking, geocaching, and watching historical documentaries.
Risks & Challenges
