Politically incorrect prophetic psychedelic bizarre absurdity, and a helluva lot of fun, is the only way to describe this trailer for GREATLAND!!! Bat**t brilliance! If you lived in the acid-laced, peace-loving days of flower power and gurus, but don’t quite remember it, get ready for a trip back in time. . .only the time is now.
Sometimes the best way to deal with adversity or frightening or confusing situations is with comedy, parody, biting satire, and even absurdity. And an allegorical release valve may be just what we need for all of the “pent up” frustrations each of us is facing during life in the time of Covid-19, as lines in the sand are drawn, friends become enemies, and many are just shaking their heads in disbelief or not knowing what to believe with the state of the world and the Covid-19 pandemic. Enter writer/director Dana Ziyasheva and GREATLAND.
Wasting no time in tapping into the current zeitgeist, Ziyasheva delivers an allegory of today’s world under guise of a dystopian sci-fi feature with the coming-of-age story of Ulysses. Set in the imaginary country Greatland, whose citizens are broken into two factions – the “Altruists” and the “Greats”, the latter who are too evolved to bother with government, work, education, law, technology or money – Ulysses is trapped in this world of perpetual fun and inter-species love ruled by a universal Mother, but must now cross the forbidden frontier to save his childhood sweetheart as an absurd election and a deadly Virus lead to chaos and violence.
An allegory of today’s world saturated with current political references and shocking imagery, the initial response to the film’s teaser trailer was a social media explosion with shares, comments and reactions on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube ranging from “WTF?!!!” and “What did I just see?!” to “Which side are you on?” and a very succinct, “Exactly what this world looks like to an outsider. Freaks and f*cks all heading down the rabbit hole.” Now it’s your turn to experience it for yourself.
Written and Directed by Dana Ziyasheva, GREATLAND stars Academy Award-nominee Eric Roberts, Nick Moran (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), J.P. Manoux (Veep), former boxing champion of the world Shannon Briggs, horror icon Bill Oberst Jr (The Devil’s Rejects), and up-and-coming young actors Arman Darbo (And Then I Go) and Chloe Ray Warmoth (Fuller House).
With the future of traditional distribution system put in question by the pandemic, GREATLAND takes a new and innovative approach to promotion by engaging directly with its target audience. Given the timeliness and prophetic nature of the movie, the film creators are encouraging questions from the audience and answering them online thus engaging them in the complex and very original world-building of the indie film all the while staying grounded in the contemporary political landscape.
GREATLAND, produced by Igor Darbo under his Popcorn & Friends banner, will be released later this year.
