100% Pure New Zealand Presents

Your Big Break

Judged by: Peter Jackson
Produced by: Barrie Osborne
Wirtten & Directed by: You
Location: New Zealand

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AN AWFUL TRUTH

By: Julian Lara

Submitted: 2009.12.30
Country: Spain (Espana)

Tags: 100% PURE NEW ZEALAND awful big break filmmaker horror julian lara spanish truth your YOUR BIG BREAK CONTEST

The Script

AN AWFUL TRUTH

by Julian Lara

1. EXT. QUEENSTOWN - DAY

Aerial landscape of the Queenstown area.
We see the beautiful mountains, the tall trees, the lake, the birds flying all around.
Everything looks like a peaceful and harmonious scenario.

2. EXT. QUEENSTOWN BAY - DAY

This is a sunny day all over the landscape of Queenstown.
There's a beautiful lake.
The surface of the water reflects the sunlight.
In the middle of the lake, far from the shore, there's a fishing boat.
On the boat there are two people.

3. EXT. FISHING BOAT/QUEENSTOWN BAY - DAY

A sixty years old man and an eight years old child are in the boat. They're both wearing long sleeve white shirts and caps on their heads.
The old man is hanging a fishing rod and is staring at the water. The child is reading a book.
Next to them, there's a bucket with a couple of fishes inside.

CHILD
(looking at his grandfather)
Grandpa, where's the Mediterranean sea?

OLD MAN
(smiling)
Sonny boy, you're always asking questions.

CHILD
That's what mum told me to do always.

OLD MAN
You're right Sonny, well, the Mediterranean
sea is in Europe, it is...
(showing now a sad face)
I mean... it was a beautiful place...

CHILD
(pointing to the landscape in front of him)
A beautiful place like this one?

OLD MAN
Never ever, however it used to be a good
place, like the rest of the earth was once.

CHILD
Grandpa, what do you mean when saying it "was"?

OLD MAN
(smiling and holding tight the fishing rod)
Here it comes, here it comes boy!

The grandfather has just caught a fish and it's coming out of the water.

OLD MAN
(while removing the fish hook)
That's a long story, perhaps I'll tell you another day, when you get older.

CHILD
(throwing the book away)
Older? I'm old enough, I'm now eight years old!

OLD MAN
(throwing the fish into the bucket)
Take it easy Sonny boy, take it easy...
I think we've got enough fishes for today.

CHILD
(looking to the bucket)
Enough with only three fishes?

OLD MAN
Absolutely, one for you, one for your mother
and another one for me. That's all we need.
Remember: we must take care of our environment.

CHILD
(looking at his grandfather bewildered)
Why? There's a lot of fishes in the water.

OLD MAN
(taking the oars and rowing)
If you think you're old enough, let me tell you one thing: long time ago, the acceleration of climate change caused a global destabilization which led the world to a Big War that made almost all the earth became an uninhabitable place for the humankind, so we came here to New Zealand, because being the youngest country on earth, it still keeps the innocence and purity that the rest of the world should have had when they still had the chance.

CHILD
(astonished)
That is... an awful truth.

OLD MAN
It is Sonny boy, it is, and that's the reason
you were born here and you're growing up
in this paradisiacal place.

CHILD
And... did you fight in this Big War?

OLD MAN
(while pulling up the one sleeve of his shirt)
No, I only was a child like you when it all happened, and I could only manage to escape.
See that scar?
(showing a long scar all along his arm)
It will always remind me that we need to preserve our environment, and that's what I'm doing since I came here: working hard for the future of my family and the future of this magnificent country, trying to keep it one hundred per cent pure, the same way as I found it when I arrived here, so long time ago. Our future depends on it.

They arrive to the shore and get out of the boat.
The child carries the bucket and his grandfather carries the fishing rod.
The old man stands staring at the beautiful lake and the amazing landscape.
His grandson stands looking at the old man and then looking at the landscape too.

CHILD
Don't worry grandpa, I'll keep it in mind.

The old man sighs deeply while looking to the beautiful landscape surrounding them.

THE END

ABOUT JULIAN LARA:
Julian Lara is a young spanish fantasy and horror filmmaker, inspired since his childhood by the movies made by George Romero, Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi. He produced and directed 3 short films and 2 feature films and wrote a book about low-budget filmmaking. Julian likes to attend film festivals all around the world following the screening of his low budget movies, and of course, Julian Lara is working hard and looking for his big break in the movie business.
You can learn more about him in his official web site: www.julianlara.com