Kanada
Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Drama
Logline:
The year is 1941. The escapees are German prisoners. The country is Kanada.
Synopsis:
Kanada begins in an Alberta POW camp during World War II, where Wesser, a young German fighter pilot, dreams of escaping and making his way home to his loved ones. The breakout is successful; but Wesser finds himself saddled with two unruly companions--Koenigsdorf, a bitter but worldly ideologue whose brutality caused even the SS to court-martial him, and Schussberg, a happy-go-lucky bombardier whose single goal is desertion.
Accustomed to elite combat in the clear blue sky, Wesser soon finds himself mired in a flesh-and-blood ground campaign which is anything but clean. By raft, car, train, and plane, on horseback and on foot, with the aid of unsuspecting civilians and the help of a shaky network of enemy sympathizers, he leads the trio across the prairies, leaving an ever-widening trail of violence behind him. Battling his strong-willed companions, the unforgiving harshness of the frozen landscape, the authorities in their relentless pursuit, and the deception and betrayal practiced by both ally and foe, Wesser gradually sheds his decency and his honor as his noble escape plan degenerates into a struggle to survive at any cost.
An intense drama with suspense, action, unexpected reversals, and a cast of strong characters battling for their lives, KANADA turns the roles of pursuer and quarry, enemy and ally upside down in the ultimate fugitives-on-the-lam adventure, all unfolding against the bleak, majestic winterscape of a heartland still half-wild.
Author Info:
ALAN LEVIN, recipient of a 2003 Leo Award (for Best Screenwriting in a Youth or Children's Program or Series) has written episodes of the animated series Yakkity Yak, Yvon of the Yukon, What About Mimi? and D'Myna Leagues and has held two BC Film writer internships, one in the story department of the dramatic series Cold Squad. After working for several years as an aerospace engineer, he earned an MFA in Creative Writing in 1995. He has published stories and poems in numerous journals in Canada and the US, and has a selection of feature film scripts available. These include: Helen Towns - a swing-era singing sensation evolves into a civil rights campaigner; Absolutely Beat - freedom goes toe-to-toe with responsibility as aging Beatniks and their hipster disciples battle the establishment and each other; Redemption Song - a Desert Storm veteran finds it difficult to adjust to civilian life as he struggles to protect his troubled family in racially-charged Los Angeles; and Cross The Line - a young adult drama set in the world of soapbox car racing.
ALAN LEVIN, Writer
(604) 874-9402
alevin@intergate.bc.ca
K.A.R.M.A.
Genre:
Mystery/Thriller
Logline:
Freelance photojournalist Tom Hackett gets the biggest break of his career when a troubled group of Internet-savvy teens seek bloody revenge against their abusers. But when the vigilante murders strike too close to home, Tom's world spins out of control and the answer to saving lives may lie in a dark secret from his own troubled past.
Synopsis:
The children want revenge. Led by a brilliant but troubled teenager, tech-savvy victims of abuse unite to turn their collective pain into bloody retribution. The group calls itself K.A.R.M.A: Kids Against Rape, Murder and Abuse.
To ensure the group’s message is heard, K.A.R.M.A’s leader enlists the aid of Tom Hackett, a rebellious twentysomething freelance photojournalist who flaunts his willingness to break the rules for that perfect moneymaking shot. By tipping Hackett to the location of fresh kill, the group ensures sensational front-page media play. But when the identity of the first victim hits too close to home, K.A.R.M.A awakens a haunted past that could destroy everything Tom holds dear.
In struggling with his conscience, Tom becomes an obstacle that K.A.R.M.A can’t allow to live.
Bio:
Grant McKenzie's debut novel, SWITCH, was published to terrific reviews by Random House in the UK and Germany in July 2009. It will be published in Canada by Penguin in July 2010. His short stories have been featured in Out of the Gutter and Spinetingler magazines, plus an upcoming anthology, First Thrills, edited by best-selling author Lee Child. As a journalist, Grant has worked in virtually every area of the newspaper business from the late-night “Dead Body Beat” at a feisty daily tabloid to senior copy/design editor at two of Canada’s largest broadsheets. In between regular newspaper gigs, he has also contributed technology/humour columns to various magazines around the world. Grant currently resides on British Columbia’s beautiful Sunshine Coast.
GRANT MCKENZIE
grant@grantmckenzie.net
http://grantmckenzie.net