Keith Sicat
DirectorSari Dalena
ProducerPhilippines
CountryLogline
In a future of intergalactic migrant workers, a scientist marooned on a hostile alien world struggles to reconnect with her child who is lightyears away.
Short Synopsis
Ewa, an idealistic scientist and mother to a young boy, must take a dangerous job in space for his future. She records her final lullaby to him before promising to see him in five years. Waking from hypersleep 70 years beyond her contract, the resulting mutiny sends their ship crashing on a desolate world. Only she and two others survive the crash. All Ewa wants is to contact her now elderly son and in so doing, send for help.
While trying to find a way to send a distress signal, the survivors are unaware they are being tracked. A violent encounter leads them to be enslaved by brutal band of humans – descendants from lost migrant missions over the centuries. Through the sacrifice of one crewmember, Ewa escapes and resigns herself to being trapped on this world, with only the final recording of her son as she sings as her memento. But when she encounters a fierce tribe of warrior women while carrying a new baby in her womb – her will to survive reignites.
Able to find kinship with the tribe’s Priestess, she discovers that her path to salvation is not through technology, but through spirituality. The tribe’s Priestess initiates a ritual by intoning a familiar melody – the lullaby she would sing to her son. The ritual projects her consciousness into the far reaches of the cosmos and for the first time in 70 years, the son hears his mother’s voice once more…
Keith Sicat
Sicat is an independent filmmaker that has spearheaded a dozen films as writer, director, and producer for narrative and documentary features. These films include award-winners RIGODON, KA ORYANG, WOMAN OF THE RUINS, and ALIMUOM (all of which were screened internationally).
His work in animation began as the script consult for the first 3D CG animated feature in the Philippines RPG: Metanoia and helped develop the first Japanese-Filipino anime co-production BARANGAY 143 with TV Asahi that is now on NETFLIX.
Sari Dalena
KINO ARTS is a boutique studio founded by filmmakers Keith Sicat and Sari Dalena specializing in feature films and long-format documentaries. Their dozen-plus works include the award-winners "Rigodon", the tropical gothic "Woman of the Ruins", and the science fiction film "ALIMUOM". They also do commercial branded shorts for international clients as well as educational films.
Their development slate includes a folk horror feature and an animated project based on the comic book "OFW: Outerspace Filipino Workers" which was presented at the Annecy MIFA Pitches, BIFAN, MDEC Kre8tif Malaysia, the DGPI/Cinemalaya Pitches, MPA World IP Day Pitches, and the Locarno Film Festival’s “Match Me!” program as well as selected for the American Film Showcase (AFS) workshop, SIKAP workshop, and the prestigious FULL CIRCLE LAB. That project was cited by animation industry website Cartoon Brew as amongst the "Five Most Promising Projects in Southeast Asia".