By Jason Apuzzo. Lately we’ve been showing you some exciting new indie sci-fi films (see here, here and here), several of which were crowd-funded, that show how new advances in visual FX are drastically expanding the imaginative possibilities of independent filmmaking. We’ve also discussed how these films can not only dazzle us visually, but engage contemporary social anxieties associated with war and invasion.
Today we want to tell you about another exciting project called The 3rd Letter (see the film’s trailer above) from acclaimed filmmaker and ILM visual FX artist Grzegorz Jonkajtys. [Jonkajtys’ recent ILM credits include Pan’s Labyrinth, The Mist and Terminator: Salvation.] Jonkajtys had an extraordinary short film called “Ark” shown at Cannes at few years ago. The film turned a lot of heads, and now he’s hooked up with producer/co-writer Philip Bastiaan Koch on The 3rd Letter (originally titled “36 Stairs”), an extravagant-looking, 15 minute short film that’s apparently about to hit the festival circuit hard.
The 3rd Letter takes place in a dystopian future in which human beings depend on bio-mechanical alterations in order to withstand the detriorating climate. [Shades of BP?] Set against a polluted, megalopolis world, the tragic tale of Jeffrey Brief (Rodrigo Lopresti) unfolds. When faced with the imminent loss of his health insurance, Brief unwittingly unravels a dark truth (involving population control – shades of Soylent Green?) that apparently pushes him to extreme measures …
Here’s some of what Jonkajtys says about his film in a recent interview:
Tell us how you designed this distinctive dystopian world. It looks like a bureaucratic nightmare – like something out of 1984 or THE TRIAL.
I wanted to bring certain aspects of what’s happening in the contemporary society and push it a bit further. The world Jeffrey, the main character, lives in is not set in any particular time or place. We will see a lot of stylistically and periodically mismatched designs, equipments and architecture. With this approach, on an extremely limited budget, it’s easier to find the props and sets rather than build everything from scratch. Plus, it serves the story, creating a kind of conglomerate of periodical and modern elements. Jeffrey’s haircut and clothing (designed by Gus Harput) is very much inspired by Winston’s character from the film 1984.
Of course, the movie is also very relevant. It deals with things like the health insurance industry. How do you avoid becoming too preachy?
The movie is all about Jeffery’s case. The most important aspect of the story is how he will react in the situation he has found himself in – what his choice will be. The insurance situation is only a setting that serves this story. I think it’s good that it is so relevant. More people can relate to it.
It’s not clear to me precisely what the nature of the film’s social critique is regarding the health industry and/or government controls. Basically the film looks like classic sci-fi dystopia stuff. Suffice it to say that since government and the private insurance industry are slowly merging into one, creating what is almost sure to be a ‘dystopian’ situation – with freedom and individual consumer choice evaporating into thin air – this film certainly appears grounded in what we’re going through today.
Visually The 3rd Letter looks completely fabulous, very much in keeping with Jonkajtys’ prior work (I’m also a fan of his short “Legacy”). The film was shot on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, and the VFX shots really expand out the film’s world, considering that it was apparently just shot around Jonkajtys’ basement and a few practical locations. I’d also like to note, again, that this ambitious-looking project was at least in part crowd-funded (see the film’s Kickstarter page, with a reported 47 backers providing the film’s modest $7K budget).
I’ve been up to ILM a few times to visit, but never had the pleasure of meeting Grzegorz. From what I read about him, his family – he originally comes from Poland – seems to have had some terrible encounters with communism and fascism. His father was apparently deported to Kazakhstan in 1940 with his family after the Nazi invasion. His grandfather was also apparently arrested by the Soviet military police, and never heard from again. I can only imagine that these sorts of emotional, family experiences would sharpen Jonkajtys’ perspective on the benefits of freedom.
We wish him the very best with this project. You can follow the film’s progress on its Facebook page.
Posted on July 14th, 2010 at 11:26am.
