Jessica Woodworth’s Sci-Fi Epic ‘Luka’ Debuts Trailer Ahead of Rotterdam Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)
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The trailer has debuted for Jessica Woodworth’s sci-fi epic “Luka,” which has its world premiere in the Big Screen Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Films Boutique is handling international sales.
The film is Woodworth’s take on Dino Buzzati’s “The Tartar Steppe,” in which she crafts a fantasy of post-truth lunacy. Geraldine Chaplin plays the twisted General in a drama tinged with the conjured terrors of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” and the rapturous brotherly love of Jean Genet’s “Un chant d’amour.”
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In the film, Luka, a young and ambitious soldier, embeds himself in Fort Kairos where heroic warriors defend the remains of civilization. His hopes to serve as an elite sniper are crushed when he is assigned to maintenance and must submit to the code of Kairos: obedience, endurance and sacrifice. As he rises through the ranks, Luka finds joy and strength in friendships with Konstantin, an enigmatic radar engineer, and Geronimo, a light-hearted private.
Alongside Chaplin, the cast includes Jonas Smulders, Jan Bijvoet, Samvel Tadesvossian, Django Schrevens and Sam Louwyck.
The film is produced by Peter Brosens of Bo Films. It is coproduced by Maarten D’hollander and Tim Martens of Krater Films, Diana Elbaum of Beluga Tree, Flaminio Zadra and Pilar Saavedra Perrotta of Palosanto Films, Denis Vaslin and Fleur Knopperts of Volya Films, Stefan Kitanov and Mira Staleva of Art Fest, and Anzhela Frangyan of Dokino.
Woodworth’s credits include documentary “The Virgin Diaries,” which played at IDFA in 2002, “Khadak,” winner of the Venice Lion of the Future in 2006, “Altiplano,” which was in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2009, “The Fifth Season,” which was in Venice Official Competition in 2012, “King of the Belgians,” which was in Venice Horizons Competition in 2016, and “The Barefoot Emperor,” which was at Toronto in 2019.
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