No Man's Land

dystopian fantasy · 2018 to 2026 · Shadow Players is part of the No Man's Land realm · an imaginary growing, while I read philosophy at university · selected for the European Genre Forum · Brussels Genre Film Market Works in Progress · Sitges Pitchbox Special Mention · Reykjavík Talent Lab · WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Semifinalist.

Lumière's story began in the wintery folds of Provence some years ago. A story of a unique human, who in a dystopian future or present sees Europe's segregation for what it is: A way to disconnect the many who are not akin to capitalist power, and a way to weaken empathy and interaction. Lumière sets out to ultimately restore a net of social interaction through storytelling and the unique participation of story travelling.

That winter in Provence felt like an icy foreboding, funnelling political and social shifts away from democratic stability. As a writer, I could not then specify what it was that made this calm, unusually cold season in the South of France umbearably colder. So it became what I call the No Man's Land. It is a sense of dread - in genre film terms it might even become a creature - a sense of dread, that had no other meaning but to disconnect humans from each other and from their ambitions of kindness and empathy. What is left, with growing determination, is fear. 

No Man's Land began to travel, and with it the adventure took some magical and at the same time disruptive turns. I was invited to the European Genre Forum, a place where genre filmmakers learn to nurture their projects, while they themselves are nurtured by a team of film experts. I travelled to Imagine Amsterdam, to Fantastic Zagreb, and to Black Nights Tallinn, each festival connecting No Man's Land and seven other promising projects to training, feedback, and pitching opportunities. I owe much to the European Genre Forum, and to its magical community of genre filmmakers, many of whom became friends.

But there was also a darker side to this. The screenplay that had slightly overwhelming garnered interest was suddenly deemed either not good enough or too difficult for a first-time filmmaker like myself. The structures of film production imply that there are economical rules to adhere to, for instance, as a filmmaker with a German passport and currently based in Germany, I cannot have a producing partner in another country, if there is to be money involved. Well, and in film, there is always money involved. That, for various reasons, has proven to be a mountain I have yet to climb.

Despite special mentions, various pitch invites, works in progress listings, and screenplay accolades, No Man's Land and I have yet to find that producing partner daring to take us on. I have met brilliant people along the way, a handful of whom I finally reconnected with at Berlinale this year. But some years have passed since I pitched No Man's Land as a feature film, in which I made part of the story into a short film. Shadow Players carries an essence of No Man's Land. Not only in its story, but also in the team who have been building this world with me. They came on board from all over Europe in order to make No Man's Land, and I am hoping that one day I will be able to give them a call.

When Lumière sat in a damp yet beautiful mansion - la grande dame - in wintery Provence, and contemplated how story travelling could change the course of things, she did not anticipate what would become of the Europe she had grown up in. The brittle edges of a no man's land, encrouching on people, would become reality. Our disconnect does not look like the concept art by Stijn Windig, which he specifically designed for No Man's Land. This current reality of ours is engrained with something more sinister even, for it is invisible at first. 

I feel this calls for a reevaluation. The original story is that of a dystopia, in which one unique human is alone in the redrawing of a social net of stability. But the thing about individuality is, if you're not seen, then your efforts evaporate. Perhaps there is another turn to take, still Lumière remains at the centre of this particular story, yet her journey is not that of a heroine, a sole fighter, it is one of a connector, the glue, the inbetween human interaction. Perhaps, after all there is opportunity in a gruesome no man's land that attempts to disconnect us - if we defy its efforts to consume what makes us valuable to its growth.