A science fiction sitcom prototype
In 2020 Linz imPULS awarded me a stipendium to explore my utopian ideas in the form of a sci fi sitcom pilot. In my head, this project was supposed to be the pinnacle of many of the ideas I had been arguing for and experimenting with over the last seven or eight years. I developed a fun script, worked really hard building a set and props, hooked up with a lot of lovely creative people, but somewhere along the way my circular processes got lost and the end of the project turned into a bit of a sad, lonely slog. I had too much footage and not enough of a connecting thread. Of all of my projects to date, this one is the cause of the most disappointment – I think because I had such high hopes.
I did get the film into a couple of festivals, but it wasn’t the breakthough moment I had been striving for.
I wrote the script in 2021, with great support from various friends. Medien Kultur Haus Wels kindly agreed to support the project by hosting us in February 2022. After casting a great bunch of local actors we built a set and filmed there, using the MKH’s camera, lighting and computer equipment. We spent most of the rest of 2022 syncing, editing, doing extra shooting, adding special effects, sound effects and so on, until the film was pretty much finished sometime on 2023/24.
Here`s some blurb about the project:
COMRADES is a science fiction comedy about five characters living inside of a sentient, living building in a positive, shared, care-based utopian future. It is the year 2250. Their lives are made more complicated with the arrival of a package containing a frozen trillionairre from 2049. He wants to gain power, but always finds himself thwarted by the people or the system.
COMRADES is a sitcom pilot about imagining radical solutions to the problems of today. Imagining a future where the problems of today (wealth inequality, climate breakdown, false information, rampant capitalism) are positively resolved, but individuals still struggle with the same old problems – what to do with their life, how to find love, how to navigate power relations.
COMRADES is a show that looks at the world from a perspective that is rarely found in current mainstream entertainment – a positive, shared future.
Here the wonderful people who featured in the film:
STARRING (from left to right in image above):
Kalama Eric Sore, Lea Kronberger, Maximilian Bendl, Alexandra Nedel, Peta Klotzberg, James Brodie, Linda Luse
with COSTUMES by Angelika Daphne Katzinger, MAKE UP by Amanda Burzić, MUSIC by Tom Pegg and SFX by Sebastian Six, Audio, Technical Production and Huge Assistance from Reini Zach
ALSO STARRING:
Kathi Lackner (voice), Sam Bunn, Xien Zheng, Lena Sophie Knapp, Daniella Odongo, Hess Jeon, Kristin Reiman, Sebastian Six, Lena Humer, Gabriella Gordillo (voice), Mohammed Farhad Hasan, Hansi Raber, Fransziska Wiener and Gerog Pinteritsch
Featuring artworks from Tom Marseiller, Nadja Schütz, Sophie Rieger and Georg Pinteristch
Here is a short version, episode 1, which transmits the first quarter of the full prototype:
And here the full version:
