Music, Comics, Secret Agents, and Cults; what more does a Girl need to have Fun?
Break the Spell | Unscript the Future
ART e FACT FEATURE FILM
Stream Only HereFeature film written, directed and produced by Robert Iolini.
GENRE: Science fiction, mystery, drama
AUDIENCE: G
TAGLINE: Comics, music, secret agents, and cults; what more does a girl need to have fun?
LOGLINE: A disillusioned songwriter, playing hide and seek with agents and zealots, finds her deep dive into a mythical comic hero’s life unexpectedly healing her own trauma and igniting a creative renaissance.
THEMES: ART e FACT is a sci-fi intrigue about the effect of creativity and criticism on an authoritarian society. The narratives explore moral issues around artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and political rule.
SYNOPSIS: In a world where technology and knowledge sharing are tightly controlled, a disheartened songwriter finds an unexpected path to healing through her new role as an art curator. Tasked with researching a mysterious comic book hero, she discovers parallels between the character’s journey and her own struggles. As she delves deeper into the hero’s mythology, she experiences a profound personal awakening, rediscovering her artistic voice and inner strength.
However, her investigation doesn’t go unnoticed. Soon, she’s caught in a dangerous game of cat and mouse, pursued by government agents, anarchists, a secret society, and a fanatical cult – all seeking to control the comic hero’s powerful legacy. Navigating this complex web of intrigue, she must stay one step ahead of her pursuers while piecing together the truth behind the mythical figure.
With each revelation about the comic hero, she finds new inspiration for her music and a growing courage to challenge the status quo. As the lines between art, myth, and reality blur, she realises that her curative journey has become a symphony of self-discovery, creativity, and defiance against a system that fears the transformative power of art.
More info at IMDB + ART e FACTs Film Series
DAIMARU GHOST BUS
Melancholy gentle mid-winter glow, Mongkok pop palace-ebo? Tunnelling inward to the centre of now new neo-Nippon-nature well-come to my tight fit maxi-maze – outer neon skin sheds ray-on-gun mysteries reflected in the thousand street eyes alive with hope and uniqueness, each pair a floating vessel carrying a billion possible memories . . . Now in decode mode, mobile and scanning, sensing no malice, only sadness, respect, awareness, sensitivity and then unexpectedly from this saline eyeball world a tear-drop falls.
On a bus with a sign that reads “Daimaru”
The Agent asks T where he is from
T says he is from Hong Kong
A city of contrasts and contradictions
The Agent asks T about Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945
T says it was his dad’s birthday
And while the Americans were depopulating Japan
His grandmother was busy populating Hong Kong
And his grandfather was busy changing his name
T tells how his grandfather was fighting the Japanese
While hating the British
As at least their skin was the same shade of yellow
Ironically, he ended his days neither British nor Japanese
But a hybrid of both
The Agent says that T’s grandfather would be happy
To know that forty years later
Hong Kong would be thoroughly Japanified
With anime, manga, and sushi everywhere
The Agent asks T how much farther it is to the Daimaru Department Store
T says he is a little late
As it closed in 1998
A victim of the Asian financial crisis
The Agent asks T about the sign on the front of the bus
T says that memory follows function
And around there, people use buildings and sites
As memory markers to keep them anchored
As they drift in the sea of change
The Agent asks T if he has any tips
On where to find a 1997 EVA series 02 figurine
T says that mechas are dead
And it’s all about sexy girl figures now
They’re even selling them to the Japanese
PAY-AS-YOU-GO SHAMANIC MOBILE SERVICE CENTRE
The agent must perform a sacrifice
Of flesh and fire, seeds and blood, to please
Byakko and to gain his good advice.
He casts the coins to know his destinies.
THE AGENT
Beating. Beating the curse.
Byakko
The White Tiger God
The white tiger is powerful
TAOIST SCHOLAR – Dr Lai Chi-Tim
Imagine that there is a relationship between some persons who give a bad or negative curse. It’s very natural. If you have a bad fortune in the past, you will find some answers. You will find a reason. They attribute the reasons to some person they don’t like. So in order to correct this harmful force, they will invite some women to hit some papers. In Chinese way it’s Da Siu Yan
THE AGENT
Calling to Byakko
Sacrifice
Flesh Fire Seeds Blood
A final divination
Lucky for me
I get one side up, one down Sing Biu
VERTICAL NARRATIVES
An interstellar detective investigates life in Hong Kong.
THE HOLOGRAPHIC EAR
A man confronts the nature of reality and perception through sound
GEMINOID TEAR
An android couple re-enact a scene from Jean-Luc Godard’s film Le Mepris (Contempt)
GHOSTS OF THE TSUNAMI
A photographer reveals invisible worlds
FORAT DE LA VERGONYA
A typical neighbourhood in Barcelona?
BLACK SHEEP
Australian Aboriginal teenagers in Darwin