Enter the surreal dystopian prophecy of 2020: Greatland, a world where boys are married to trees, cats and dogs run for President and the Virus has become a new religion. An acid roller coaster ride into the future after Covid-19, on a mission to debunk 2020!
Politically incorrect prophetic psychedelic bizarre absurdity, and a helluva lot of fun, is the only way to describe this trailer for GREATLAND!!! It’s 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 the guise of a dystopian sci-fi feature with the coming-of-age story of Ulysses. Set in the imaginary country of Greatland, dubbed “the birthplace of love and endless source of fun”, its 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.
Filmed in Los Angeles in a futuristic vintage style, 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, and horror icon Bill Oberst Jr (The Devil’s Rejects), alongside up-and-coming young actors Arman Darbo (And Then I Go) and Chloe Ray Warmoth (Fuller House).
GREATLAND is quickly becoming something of an urban myth. Its COVID-inspired teasers, released at the height of lockdown in April/May, went viral generating millions of views on YouTube and TikTok, with conspiracy theories and critical reactions ranging from “totally WTF?!!!” to Behind the Lens’s “Bat**t brilliance!” Shown at the Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), GREATLAND was hailed as “the most flamboyant and unusual canvass” by the festival organizers, with “brain-blown” movie critics calling it “stunning, mesmerizing with its courage and exuberant imagination” “among the most unforgettable movies of the year” and liking Ziyasheva’s creative ambition to that of Timur Bekmambetov, the President of the MIFF Jury — both are ethnic Kazakhs and have Hollywood on their resumes.
GREATLAND is Ziyasheva’s sophomore feature. The LA-based indie filmmaker is a former journalist and a UNESCO diplomat with 20 years of development work around the world: Her drama “Defenders of Life” about child-brides set in the indigenous Ngäbe tribe of Costa Rica, prompted a national ban on under-age marriages and is available on Amazon Prime. Harvard-educated Igor Darbo who produced both of Ziyasheva’s features under his Popcorn & Friends banner, counts on audience and movie critics’ sense of humor and detachment, to view GREATLAND as a farcical crash course in social engineering.
On Amazon VOD November 1, 2020
