CAT
60’s, opportunistic, lonely, bitter. Marginalized by her own community yet ambivalent to the migrants’ cause, she takes care of number one. Has no problem making illicit money off the back of other people’s misfortune.
THE SMOKER
50’s, ardent separatist and charismatic extoller of righteous cause. She is a clear-eyed cleanser of "contagion" whose salvation is threatened by Alice -- a blight that must be stopped.
FILMS IN THE SAME WHEELHOUSE
CHARACTERS
THE BOY
7, Guatemalan, fugitive. Despite the cruel chaos of his world, he is driven by eternal optimism and curiosity and imposes unwanted companionship on Alice. Is wholly unaware of his mystical predicament and just wants to go home.
"They only appear at night and eat flowers that only grow on volcanoes, nowhere else."
ALICE
14, Afro-Colombian. Able to survive by questionable means because she asks no questions. Dubious, alienated, stubbornly self-reliant, she is unaware of the responsibility she bears for the salvation of others, but her fiercely still conscience will ultimately prove the source of her heroism.
THE FILMMAKERS
"Secession is the divine quarantine to save us all."
"Bedeviled is the tethered soul."
Bountiful is a modern, provocative, character-driven supernatural drama with strong, recognizable genre elements.
Ultimately uplifting, the film will target distributors of other successful emotional- and genre-fueled explorations of socially-conscious ideas.
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Tomorrow.
A New England corner of America is violently breaking away. Immigrants are disappearing, the missing growing by the hour.
A separatist purge is underway.
Hiding from the violence of a new American cleansing, a lone Afro-Colombian teenager exploits the dead to survive. But when her struggle takes a mystical turn and she becomes the unlikely guardian of a mysterious child, they must face the hope that haunts them if they are to save each other from the chaos of this world and the next.
Part supernatural, part social commentary, Bountiful is a character-driven, near-future drama about unlikely champions and the magic of spinning hope from despair. In dramatizing the stories of stolen children daring to reunite with their families, the film is a life-affirming celebration of compassion, self-belief, and community.
"Stay off the road.
Stay out of sight.
Tell no-one where we are.
If they know, they will come.
And if they come, they will take us."
"This is my home. Born here, live here, die here. Damn right I don't feel safe."
PASTOR KEE
60’s, disillusioned redeemer of souls who tries to save Alice's before it's too late. He is a safe harbor from the lawless violence, but when the reckoning exacts a price, he will discover a terrible fine line between sanctuary and tomb.
"They're serious. So are we."
ALVARO DONADO
Director
Born in Colombia, raised in New Jersey, Alvaro's short film directorial debut, MIDNIGHTS, which he produced with Mark Tenn was awarded Best Direction for Drama at the New York Television Festival. The film was also selected by Sony and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) for the Voces Nuevas 2020 showcase series broadcast on Cine Sony — Sony’s premier US cable movie channel for the bi-cultural Latinx audience. He is a 2021 NALIP Latino Media Market Fellow with BOUNTIFUL.
Alvaro previously produced the shorts, LA MILPA, FAMILY PORTRAIT and ZEN & THE ART OF LANDSCAPING. Collectively the films won two Student Academy Awards, a Sundance Jury Prize, a Mexican Academy Award, and a Student Emmy.
An Alumnus of the Sundance Producer’s Lab, Alvaro produced the feature sci-fi, MESSENGERS. His TV production credits include TV shows for HBO, Sony Pictures, CBS, and Warner Bros. TV.
Alvaro holds an MFA in Film from Columbia University and a BA in Art History & Photography. from William Paterson University.
To learn more about Alvaro click here:
MARK TENN
Writer
A dual UK-US citizen, Mark is a 2021 NALIP Latino Media Market Fellow and Academy Nicholl Fellowship Quarterfinalist with the script for BOUNTIFUL. He co-wrote/produced the award-winning short film, MIDNIGHTS, directed by Alvaro Donado which was selected by Sony and NALIP for the Voces Nuevas 2020 series broadcast on Cine Sony.
Previously, Mark strategized film development at Filmbox and managed worldwide distribution operations on Australian feature drama, BURNING MAN, which was nominated for 10 Australian Academy Awards. He also worked script-stage film acquisitions for Little Magic Films/Toshiba Entertainment (now Hakuhodo DY), a leading Japanese distributor of award-winning films such as THE PIANIST, DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, BIRTH and FINDING NEVERLAND from bold visionaries like Jonathan Glazer, Terry Gilliam and Kenneth Branagh and intimate storytellers like Zhang Yang, Francois Ozon and Julie Bertucelli.
Mark’s production credits include Mia Hansen-Løve’s French drama, EDEN and Comedy Central's IMPORTANT THINGS WITH DEMETRI MARTIN exec-produced by John Stewart. He has also analyzed scripts for Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Lee Daniels and Open City Films/Blow-Up Pictures.
Mark began his career at The Dench Arnold Agency, a London film, TV and literary agency. He holds an MA in International Relations from Queen Mary University London and a BA in Italian & Film from Warwick University in the UK.
To learn more about Mark click here:
DANIEL ANDRADE
Cinematographer
Originally from Quito, Ecuador, Daniel’s 15-year cinematography career spans international film, television, documentary, music video and commercials.
Daniel shot and produced the feature drama, LO INVISIBLE, directed by Javier Andrade. The film is Ecuador's official submission for the 2023 Academy Awards, Spain's Goya Awards and Colombia's Macondo Awards having premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.
Previous feature film credits include El NOMBRE DE LAS PLANTAS (Dir: Manolo Armiento), ), MARIA Y EL ARAÑA (Dir: Maria Victoria Menis), and OCHENTAISIETE (Dirs: Anahi Hoeneisen & Daniel Andrade).
Daniel has also shot over 600 TV commercials worldwide for brands such as Movistar, Unicef, Adidas, Coca Cola, Hyundai and Nestle. He holds an MFA from the American Film Institute where he received an Honorable Mention from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) for his work on the short film, ON WEE!
To see Daniel's feature work click here:
NITZA
11, Honduran, mysterious. Despite her diminutive size and youth, she proves to be an insurgent stone in the shoe of the militia.
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
This film is a near future, supernatural drama about the immigrant child experience in a zero tolerant America.
As someone who was an undocumented Colombian child immigrant to the US who came of age living in constant fear in the shadows, I’m deeply compelled to share a glimpse of what that feels like.
With migration comes new identity, and with new identity comes a haunting. A haunting of us by ghosts of the people we used to be and the others we left behind. And with populist fear and demonization of “other” being flamed by the intolerance of white nationalism in America today, Bountiful takes us to a natural inevitable brink that, despite its mystical fiction, looms much larger in real life than ever before.
But in contrasting humanity’s dark side with the vibrancy and compassion of life, familial love, spirituality and nature, the film proposes that reinvention and better futures are possible. That if we unify to meet the challenges of human differences with empathy, community and self-reflection in moral action, we can at least give ourselves a fighting chance.
