Greatland Logline: Trapped in a world of perpetual fun and inter-species love ruled by a universal Mother, a teenage boy crosses the forbidden frontier to save his childhood sweetheart, as an absurd election leads to chaos and violence.
Ulysses is a happy citizen of Greatland, the birthplace of love and endless source of fun. Only here people, animals and plants are equal citizens and share the same universal Mother. Ulysses loves Mother with whom he communicates only through a bracelet, and dreams to meet his father.
On his fifteenth birthday, Ulysses realizes that he loves Ugly Duck, the daughter of his mentor-the invisible and mute Mr. Lee. In order to cure Ulysses from his Stone Age feelings, Mother executes Mr. Lee and sends Ugly Duck to Repentance Island. Mother gives Ulysses a son, who turns out to be a rabbit, and marry hims to birch tree. Tensions escalate in the country as a hyped up election campaign leads to violent clashes between supporters of a Doberman (Jörg Doberman) and fans of a ragdoll cat (Cat Purry).
To rescue his sweetheart, Ulysses breaks his bracelet, severs the connection with Mother, and runs away. Once on Repentance Island, in search of Ugly Duck, he uncovers those who actually rule Greatland, and decides to take revenge.
Ulysses’ journey through Greatland to Repentance Island is as much an adventure of a teen discovering his freedom as it is a perilous plunge into the depths of human psyche. Delving into my teenage fascination for works of Buñuel, Fellini and Forman, I was eager to marry the anima and animus inspired, surrealist imagery of Greatland with the hard-shell societal logic of “A Clockwork Orange.” As Ulysses perspective on Mother, Altruists and Clerks changes, it underscores the extent to which the power of suggestion can shape our perception of reality. A hodge-podge of positive stereotypes pushed to their extreme, Greatland weaves a universal tale of good intentions gone wrong.
The writer-director is a bold young Asian woman from Kazakhstan. Greatland cast and crew boasts artists and technicians from more than 10 different countries, 55% of women including a lead actress and 3 heads of department as well as a prominently featured LGBTQ+ community.
Director Statement
“Greatland” is a dystopian utopia. As a writer/director/world builder of Greatland, I wanted to make this imaginary country dangerously entertaining, easy to digest, comfortable and inviting to settle in. Shown from the perspective of a 15-year-old Ulysses and saturated with contemporary pop-culture references, Greatland feels like something we see in a dream.
Ulysses bickers with Mother over his daily chores, unperturbed by the fact that she’s just a talking bracelet on his wrist. Greats are too evolved to bother with government, work, education, police, technology or money. In the name of Altruism, they granted the Universal Human Rights to insects and plants, enabling a cat and a dog to run for Greatland’s Sweetheart election.
