“A dream project has finally been realised!” exclaimed filmmaker; Dan Tonkin. Jenna The Great’s script alone reached semi-finalist at Screencraft as far back as 2017 ‘Coverfly Red List Top 20 International Screenplays’ twice since then.
It also attracted the collaboration of Big Break’s winner KT Parker on as co-writer as well as the return of music composer Michael O’Neill (guitarist to George Benson & Barbra Streisand) following their last collaboration on multi-award winning, interactive film; Survivor, that allowed viewers to input decisions that progressed the narrative.
Being a story about youth, mentoring and education, Dan sought out some of his own students that he’d spent some time mentoring to re-join him once more as well as local University students as part of his crew as well as choosing to involve real students from the school they shot in to extend everyday students the chance to be involved on an actual film set as part of the long-term goals of the series to be as inclusive as possible, something which has never been done before.
The series has been titled: Imagine That. Imagine That is set to be an anthological series alike Black Mirror & Love Death Robots by which a different student and different historical icon will feature in each episode, aiming the attention more on the concept and its themes in the interest of expanding the world more believably and giving voice to as many variants of social, mental and physical issues not to mention as many historical figures as possible. “The more I taught, the closer I felt to the story and the value of the concept” Dan Tonkin said.
Shot in England’s creative south coastal town of Bournemouth; Jenna The Great, starts with struggling student ‘Jenna’ (played by Charlotte Dunnico) living with her single mother Steph (Luisa Guerreiro) failing her latest exam. She happens to steal a book that brings a young Aristotle (Felix Trench) into our time, ahead of his legacy as tutor to Alexander The Great and whilst at first they are frosty towards one another, they soon learn to work together as ‘study-buddies’ until they both fulfil their potential and Aristotle returns to his place in history.
There are many funny and charming moments that occur throughout, meeting new characters along the way, such as her intimidating teacher Mr. Winston (Jamie Lee-Hill), her bad influence friend; Kelly (Hattie Gotobed) & even the school headmaster (Bhasker Patel)
Imagine That’s – Jenna The Great has already been through Berlinale, MIPTV and Cannes & is currently seeking the representation that has the foresight and shares the same ambition for it’s future and appeal to an international audience.
In Conversation with Michael Oblowitz Director of Confidential Informant
Confidential Informant stars Mel Gibson, Dominic Purcell, and Kate Bosworth
