nano

 dark & stirring tech-thriller set at the Polar Circle

Nano

A woman is on the verge of a revolutionary nano cancer-treatment. But when her daughter is kidnapped, and demands are made to give up her research, she has to square up against the Big Pharma, in a desperate mission to save her family.”

Genre:  Tech-thriller

Production year:  Under development

Production company:  

Running time: 90 minutes

 

I have to be frank with you. From the pattern of their past actions. We have every reason to believe they will kill your daughter now.

Maria learns a painful truth from an Økokrim officer (Norwegian FBI). – from the screenplay “Nano”

teaser

This 6-minute long scene was done at Wajda Studio to show a glimpse of the characters, the world and the film language.

concept video

This is a tongue in cheek concept video spinning a story Pheobe’s story and how her life was saved due to the Big Pharma’s miracle.

 

“A certain group of distignuished gentlemen ran your Core through some beta tests. It would have been a glorious cure, maybe even saving millions. But somewhere along the way, someone’s itchy fingers got greedy. And came up with the brilliant idea of modifying your Core so it could infect people. With your Core as the miraculous cure. An ingenuous supply and demand scheme, huh? After that.. Well… Shit hit the fan.”

Maria learns a hard truth how her life’s work has been misused. – from the screenplay “Nano”

Nano, the story, and my intentions

Nano is a fast moving and gritty tech-thriller in the vein of the classic “The Fugitive”.

On the first level it’s a story about a woman and her family which gets drawn into a deadly game when she refuses to cooperate with the Big Pharma. This level is full of entertaining thriller twists and turns, double crosses and manipulative games.

The second level is an incisive social commentary on the Big Pharma and the rotting corporate culture. Here my intention is to ask, How deep does the corporate greed go? And how little are our own lives actually worth in the big scheme of things?

And on the third level is the true core of the human drama. It’s about the protagonist`s inner journey and confrontation with her past deeds and her questionable moral values. It’s also about this woman’s true dilemma. Does she fight for her ideals and help countless people dying of lung cancer or does she save her most loved ones, her own family?

“Irreversible?” This is not a maths equation. It’s my daughter’s life.”

Maria fighting to undo the distribution of the Core, the only way to save her daughter’s life. – from the screenplay “Nano”

The story – synopsis

MARIA (35), a talented nano-engineer living in Tromsø, Norway starts a net-distribution of the CORE with the help of the secretive hacker PING. The Core is a breakthrough in nano-technology and aims to cure 45% of the global cases of lung cancer. Ping makes it clear, once started, the distribution process is irreversible. Despite the dangers involved, Maria approves the start of the distro.

Shortly thereafter Maria is witness to her daughter`s kidnapping. She is forced into a web of lies between the police and the kidnappers. As her story grows too thin, she is incarcerated by the police. But when given a chance to escape from the police she grabs it and goes after her daughter’s kindappers.

This journey leads her into a bottomless pit of greed in the high-tech Biotech industry,  where even the most trusted people around her, turn out to be her enemies. Maria also uncovers an ingenious plan of supply and demand, To release a nano-virus and at the same time supply the cure for it.

She confronts the antagonist in a final standoff and is faced with the dilemma of her life. Should she sell out to the Big Pharma, thus save her daughter? But at the expense of countless lives who might be saved by her the Core.

 Maria at her most vulnerable in a full-on confrontation with the antagonist. (Image taken from the teaser shot at Wajda Studio)

Literary Awards/Selections:

Diamond Prize (2nd place) – 12th Filmmakers International Screenwriting Awards 2014

Honorable Mention Winner – 35th Writemovies Screenwriting Contest 2014

Honorable Mention Winner – 13th Screenplay Festival 2014 (Thriller Category)

Top Finalist  –  Breaking The Walls Thriller Screenplay Competition 2014

Finalist – Creative World Awards 2014

Quarter Finalist – 7th StoryPros Screenplay Awards 2014

Quarter Finalist –  Screencraft Action/Thriller Script Contest 2014

Quarter Finalist –  Act One Screenplay Competition 2013

Finalist – Beverly Hills Film Festival 2014

Funding/Markets/Workshops:

1st Draft Rewrite Grant – Norwegian Film Institute 2014/2015

Treatment Development Grant – Norwegian Film Institute 2013

Script Development Grant – Norwegian Film Institute 2014

Fiction Film Development Program “Studio Prób”- Wajda Film School 2013/2014

Berlinale Co-Production Market  –  65th Berlinale Film Festival 2015

Nordic Co-Production and Finance Market  –  42nd Haugesund Film Festival 2014

Polish Days 2014  –  T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival 2014

Facing the Audience Workshop – 39th Polish Film Festival 2014

 Maria uses the Core to save her own husband. (Image taken from the teaser shot at Wajda Studio)

Tromsø, Norway. The setting for this explosive thriller.

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