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LOGLINE

Rose, a hard-working EMT determined to support her husband’s dream of becoming a renowned DJ is invited to Saturnalia, a hyper-exclusive electronic music festival for the VIPs of the world.

This year, Saturnalia will be held at a remote Irish castle, where a looming ancient terror awaits.

What is SATURNALIA?

“It’s kinda like Neon Carnival at the Overlook Hotel.”

- Zach Book, Producer, Saturnalia

What is SATURNALIA?

“It’s kinda like Neon Carnival at the Overlook Hotel.”

- Zach Book, Producer, Saturnalia

Saturnalia is a private music festival held annually by a mysterious group of organizers who change its location from year to year.

Like the coveted Neon Carnival after-party following Coachella, Saturnalia is an immersive experience reserved for top tier performers, celebrities, and those with wealth and connections – who all come to play and release all their inhibitions…

This year, Saturnalia will take place in an abandoned castle deep in the Irish countryside. With a long-buried dark history, dating back to the British’s cruel colonial rule, the castle has been converted into a trendy, luxurious, Instagram-friendly party venue. But the scars of the past and untold evil linger there still…

Tom, an aspiring DJ, will stumble on this ancient evil and awaken it through the course of Saturnalia - leaving his wife, Rose, to contend with a terrifying force that threatens to transform Tom and a leave a body count in his wake…

OUR MAIN CHARACTERS

**ROSE** (*30, Filipino-American*) is the hero of the film. Even keeled and responsible, a skilled EMT, Rose is the steadying and supportive foundation for her aspiring DJ husband, Tom. She is the breadwinner, the responsible one, the supportive one – but sometimes she defers too much.
After a darkly fortuitous event, involving an overdose victim at a party in LA, Rose is gifted *two tickets* to the exclusive ***Saturnalia*** festival. Though it’s not going to be at all her scene, she agrees to travel halfway around the world with Tom because it’s *his* dream to attend ***Saturnalia***.
But following a series of incredible turns, Rose finds herself losing the man she loves after he transforms in the wake of his success.
As the festival becomes dangerous, and his transformation becomes monstrous, Rose must learn to rely on herself, and reclaim her *deeply hidden strength*, in order to survive and rescue her husband.

**TOM** (*30, Ethnicity open*) is innocent and caring, but also somewhat guileless. After years of hustling, his DJ career has never truly taken off.
He knows he’s lucky to be with Rose, and passionately loves her, but he can’t shake the feeling of being a failure… a musician without an audience.
So, when Rose crosses paths with one of his DJ role-models, Johann Diamond, and secures *two tickets* to ***Saturnalia*** – it’s like a sign from above. If he can play it smart enough, Saturnalia might just be his big break.
After seizing the moment, Tom finds himself in Ireland, onstage, about to play his set for an audience of powerful, famous, and influential people.
What he doesn’t realize is that in doing so, he’ll be crossing a threshold into an evil power that there’s no putting back to sleep… His success will come at the ultimate cost.

**JOHANN** (*late 30s, Ethnicity open*) aka *Johann Diamond* is older and much more successful than Tom. A dedicated and methodical creator as well as a wily social butterfly, he’s secured himself top billing as the headliner for Saturnalia, where he plans to impress the world’s elite.
The pressure is immense, and he won’t let anyone ruin his chances – not even Tom, the amateur DJ who he makes the mistake of discounting and humiliating upon first meeting.
After they arrive, Johann realizes that to headline for Saturnalia will require more of him than he could’ve ever imagined. The people behind it are powerful, ruthless, even psychotic...
When Johann fails to live up to their expectations, he suddenly finds himself in danger – from both the organizers and the monstrous force that Tom has awakened.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

**KRISTOFF** (*late 40s, French or Hispanic descent*) is a wealthy queer iconoclast whose tastes and predilections veer toward the esoteric. He also looks like someone you don’t want to fuck with.
An eloquent orator who can guide you through any situation or event like a seasoned docent, Kristoff’s classy demeanor is at odds with his rough and rugged exterior making him hard to read and even harder to trust.

**BASTI** (*20s, ethnicity open*) is Kristoff’s boyfriend, buoyant and boisterous. Having competed in many underground ballroom competitions, Basti is ready to be the life of the party at any time.
But when all hell breaks loose at Saturnalia and his trust is put to the test, Basti is forced to make very adult decisions that literally become a matter of life and death.

**ALEXEI** (*age and ethnicity unknown*) is the man behind Saturnalia. A wizened event coordinator and gatekeeper who comes from the world of electronic music, exuding power and mysticism, vacillating between “wise and avuncular” and “sinister and menacing”.
During a rare moment of generosity, Alexei gives Tom his shot at fame, unaware of the evil being unleashed upon the guests of Saturnalia.

THE STORY

Rose and Tom arrive to Saturnalia and are immediately blown away by both the talent and excess on display. For Rose especially, things are a little too excessive…

But she rallies for Tom’s sake, and they end up having a great time dancing and making extremely wealthy friends, like the exuberant young BASTI and his rich French boyfriend KRISTOFF, who introduces them to a colorful cast of billionaires and celebrities.

Amid the partying, Tom seizes an opportunity to pitch himself to the organizer of Saturnalia, the stoic and intimidating ALEXEI, though he steps on JOHANN’s toes in the process. Alexei awards Tom the coveted opening spot before Johann’s show.

Rose couldn’t be more thrilled for him. So much so that she tries to ignore the strange feeling she’s getting about this place; the unsettling things happening in gloomy corners, the dark glint in the eyes of some of the VIPs, the angry reverberations that seem to pulse throughout this ancient looming keep.

Later, unable to sleep from nerves, Tom wanders the grounds and is lured into the castle caverns when he hears a sublime, ghostly chorus of sounds. The Murmurs…

Cut to the big night, Tom steps on stage to perform. Rose watches eagerly from the front row. But things do NOT go well. The audience isn’t into it. He’s flailing.

So, Tom switches to a new track. A song that uses a recording of those sublime murmurs. And the audience LOSES IT – they are electrified, entranced, they give Tom the love he’s always dreamed of…

But poor Tom doesn’t know what force he’s playing with here. He’s channeling a powerful evil. And it starts to change him. In the wake of his roaring success, he leaves Rose on her own.

Thus begins Rose’s horrifying odyssey. What starts with a discovery of the castle’s gruesome past then leads her to uncover the many layers of evil in this place; both the very human evil that’s behind this festival, and the elemental darkness that hungers for them all. It has a name: The Farshee.

Ultimately, Rose teams up with Basti and Johann to fight for their survival and rescue Tom from himself.

They’ll confront visions, deadly songs, and a dance house slaughter unlike anything you’ve seen onscreen before. This is the festival from hell and the beat is deadly.

Rose emerges as a leader and straight-up badass with a deep reservoir of strength. She evolves into an independent, spiritual fighter who discovers that she contains multitudes.

As she finds her true voice, Rose is the only one who stands a chance at getting them out of Saturnalia alive…

THE FARSHEE

(Irish spelling: Fear Sídhe)

THE FARSHEE

(Irish spelling: Fear Sídhe)

The Farshee is a reimagining of the classic spirit of Irish mythology, the Banshee.

In Saturnalia, the Farshee is an elemental, feral force that corrupts and overtakes its host in order to feed on the suffering of any victim it comes across - and subsume them, keeping their souls prisoner within it.

Those imprisoned souls are the mournful voices of the Murmurs, the ethereal sounds that Tom mixes into his music.

The Farshee deploys the Murmurs as a powerful weapon, alongside other terrifying sonic tricks – to entrance, hypnotize, overtake, and kill new victims.

Inspired by modern classics like Annabelle and Insidious, the Farshee must first possess an unfortunate human vessel (Tom). And once it comes into being – there’s no going back…

The LOOK of Saturnalia

Saturnalia should be a film that feels like a journey, and every aspect of the film - from music composition to production design - should play a role in creating that journey. This is why I want to have three distinct “look sections” for the film.

1. COLD REALITY

This should be shot with long lenses with a production design that utilizes more muted colors. Not desaturated, mind you, just using cooler and more monochromatic color choices that prime the viewers eye to be shocked by the time we get to the vibrance of the impending party. The earliest shots of this section could have a voyeuristic quality by having strategically placed foreground elements in combination with slight parallax camera movement to reinforce that we’re getting a peek into the inner lives of our main characters.

2. COLORFUL EUPHORIA

COLORS! NEON! LIGHTS! And let’s utilize lots, LOTS of wide angle photography. If you’ve seen my previous films, you’ll notice that I go to super wide angle when I want to convey speed, height, frenetic energy or just something…heightened. It makes spaces more vast, tall people more gigantic, and every close-up feels so intimate that you feel like you’re about to be kissed. And the major benefit of having the Saturnalia event in wide-angle is that the viewer is completely immersed with no foreground elements separating them from the story. The FOV is similar to that of when you’re sitting in an immersive VR experience.

3. FIERY PANDEMONIUM

I love a good panicky shot, whether it’s kinetic on a steadicam or handheld. Take that scene and light it with fire. I just want to be able to show a freedom and looseness when all hell breaks loose because there’s a subliminal feeling an audience gets when you transition from steady shots to handheld, one that feels like they’ve been thrust into immediacy. Now that we’ve gone from the man made lights of the music festival to the overtaking NATURAL light of fire, I want it to feel as if the people shooting the music festival don’t know what to do and are also on the run from the evil coming from the depths of the castle.

The SOUND of Saturnalia

There are few things more heightened than being in the crush of the crowd at a performance; the overwhelming sensory experience of the sounds, the smells, the touch. Everyone leaves their comfort zone behind to become immersed in the dance.

Saturnalia will be the first horror film to play with the festival experience and transform it into a horrifying thrill ride, where the evil comes through the music itself.

DIMITRI VEGAS

The music of the festival will be composed and performed by Dimitri “Vegas” Thiavaios, half of the monolithic brotherly duo “Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike” and ambassador of the worldwide phenomenon, Tomorrowland. Clocking more than 25 million fans on social media and attracting a yearly audience of over 600,00 people, Dimitri’s sound is THE sound of EDM festivals and will give our fictitious event a sound of authenticity.

Watch the clip below to get a taste of Dimitri Vegas.

THE MURMURS

The “Murmurs” that Tom finds when wandering the castle caverns need to have multiple qualities to them: haunting, beautiful, deathly, ugly, melodic, dissonant. Basically an audio Rorschach that can evoke whatever mood you want in the film. Because we’ll be touching on a lot of religious iconography as well as stories about the colonial past, these “murmurs” have to have a choral quality to them.

Below is a clip of a work-in-progress experiment for the sound of the “Murmurs”.

PAGLUNAS, “Rose’s Theme”

A musical motif in the film is a tune that Rose hums to herself when she is in “healing mode”, whether she is healing someone as an EMT or when she needs some self-healing of her own after a traumatic day. The song is initially hummed by our lead character and has an ethereal quality to it. Later in the film we hear the lyrics and learn that it is a Filipino folk tune.

Listen to the demo track, below, to hear “Paglunas” as well as the beginning of a remix that happens later in the film.

THE SCORE

While Dimitri Vegas supplies the modern music that plays on the stages of Saturnalia, H.P. Mendoza’s score reflects the history of electronic music and will have echoes of IDM, hauntological music and 80’s horror films scored by John Carpenter or Wendy Carlos.

Listen to the work-in-progress theme song for the film, below.

Director/Writer Statements

(photos of H.P. Mendoza and Eli Edelson in Ireland, visiting independently of each other)

H.P. MENDOZA, DIRECTOR

“I always try to bring a lot of myself to the table when we’re making a film; my musicality in Colma: The Musical, my queerness in Fruit Fly, my love of horror in I Am a Ghost and my Filipino-ness in Bitter Melon. So it delights me to know that this film is going to have all of those things thanks to the truly collaborative nature of screenwriter Eli Edelson who provided the story and scaffolding where I can play with my predilections.

With themes of historical preservation, colonialism and witchcraft, Saturnalia needs to be fun, immersive and, most of all, scary. A rollercoaster whose drops last a tiny bit longer than you’d expect. A thrill ride whose thrills don’t necessarily guarantee that you’re safe. Because like the event in the film itself, if you’re not pushing the boundaries, where’s the fun in that?”

Eli Edelson, Screenwriter

“Like with many films, this story has had A LOT of iterations. At the core, it has always been about the power of music, the allure of success, the struggle of the outsider… and the simple what if: your best music festival experience turned into your worst nightmare? But it wasn’t until I partnered with H.P. that it truly became Saturnalia. We were able to conceive of a story that had sound and song in its very DNA, combined with an ascendant hero named Rose who will be a truly unique force on the screen. So, I hope you buy a ticket. It’s time to get ready for the show…”

BIOS

DIMITRI VEGAS:

Electronic music lovers and fans all over the world know Dimitri “Vegas” Thivaios as half of the monolithic brotherly duo “Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike” and as an ambassador of the worldwide phenomenon, Tomorrowland. Voted “#1 DJs of the World” once again in 2019, the brothers are superstars in the electronic music scene and have earned the adoration of crowds around the globe. They have clocked more than 25 million fans on social media, combined with billions of music streams and video views of their over-the-top live performances and music videos.

Dimitri has also been fully committed to a new career as an actor, producer, and director. Aside from starring in European films like Gangsta and Lukas, Dimitri features in Jurassic World 3: Dominion and has exciting lead roles and producing work on studio films already in development.

H.P. MENDOZA:

H.P. Mendoza is a Filipino-American filmmaker and artist best known for his work as screenwriter, composer and lyricist on Colma: The Musical (2007), as well as his art-house directorial effort, I Am a Ghost (2014) dubbed “H.P. Mendoza’s objet d’art” by Variety Magazine. Mendoza's musical films have been dubbed "mumblechoral" by Steve Seid of Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, while David Lamble of the San Francisco Bay Area Reporter dubbed Mendoza “San Francisco’s queer cinema poet”. In 2012, Mendoza was inducted into Essential SF by the San Francisco Film Society which supported his third directorial effort Bitter Melon (2018) placing on over a dozen Top 10 lists after its theatrical run in December of 2018 and was dubbed one of the “20 Best Bay Area Films of the Decade” by the Mercury News. Along with his feature films, Mendoza is also known for his music and art installations including the touring screening of his experimental visual album, Attack, Decay, Release commissioned by The Svane Family Foundation.

Mendoza is currently completing post-production on his most recent film, The Secret Art of Human Flight starring Academy Award nominee Paul Raci

ELI EDELSON:

Eli is a blood-red dyed-in-the-wool horror fanatic who loves to explore the genre across mediums. From original screenplays to scary short fiction and podcasts (published by Parcast and Brick Moon Entertainment), Eli also helped create the mythology of Freeform’s genre-bending horror-fantasy series, Motherland: Fort Salem, where he has worked from Staff Writer to Co-Producer across its full run of three seasons.

ZACH BOOK:

Zach started his career in Baltimore working on HBO’s The Wire, Transformers, and Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies before landing a position at Jerry Bruckheimer TV. In 2012, Zach partnered with Steven De Souza to develop and produce for film, TV and digital. Zach transitioned into literary management in 2017 where he produces for film and TV, while also representing writers, directors, and IP. Being released in 2021 is the thriller Wired Shut.