The Flying Kiribati
Synopsis:
Hamburg, winter 2020. As if out of a Wagner opera, sailors from the Pacific Ocean, who have been wandering endlessly around the world, manage to disembark. A hundred of them find themselves confined to a youth hostel, requisitioned by their shipowner. A Captain from their islands arrives and tries to organize the return of this idle crew. One night, a sailor throws everything in his room out of the window; he learnt that his wife on the island was dating someone else. The group’s morale begins to plummet until the singing and dancing breaks through the darkness and fog. When finally, after two years of absence, the lucky ones arrive at home, fate continues to strike: global warming is accelerating and their islands will be swallowed up.
Producer: François Rosolato
Director: François Rosolato
Nation: France
Estimated length: 110 minutes
Screenplay: François Rosolato
Editing: Guillaume Mazeline
Photography: François Rosolato
Production: SILIR PRODUCTION
Budget forecast: 189.000 €
Funding confirmed: 31.000 €
Missing resources: 158.000 €
Objective: CO-PRODUCTION, PRE-SALES, DISTRIBUTION
Shooting start: Novermber, 2020
Planned end of shooting: January, 2023
Director’s notes:
Victor Hugo wrote: “The sea is an area of rigor and freedom”. I think that’s what attracts me and also corresponds to my conception of cinema. In 1996, I made a film about French fishermen. Here, this crew has lost its compass and is sailing by sight, in troubled waters and without a boat! The only beacon they can cling to is that of their culture and a common identity for the crew. I was lucky enough to be admitted to share my time with them, and to be able to keep a record of this unfortunate epic for the so-called “key workers”.
Production notes:
THE FLYING KIRIBATI focuses on individual stories that open the way to a broader reflection on the world we live in. It’s the story of a humanity caught in its own trap, lured by the sirens of consumer society into an absurd existence in which these sailors waste their lives trying to earn a living. While in the distance their Penelopes wait interminably for them. The universal dimension of this modern odyssey gives it international appeal.
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY
François Rosolato is a director and cinematographer. Fate, determinism and freedom are at the heart of his cinema. His films have been broadcast on television and have won awards at festivals in France and abroad. In 2014, he set off to sail around the world. On his return at the end of 2018 he set up SILIR PRODUCTION. After putting a first project in Russia on hold, he began shooting THE FLYING KIRIBATI in Hamburg in autumn 2020. With its Homeric epic feel, the film is no exception to the rule and questions the idea of fate in its own way.
PRODUCTION SILIR PRODUCTION | PRODUCER François Rosolato | CONTACTS f.rosolato@silir.fr
Founded in 2019, SILIR PRODUCTION initiated with THE FLYING KIRIBATI a project with an international appeal. A recent capital increase has opened up the possibility of developing films for the cinema. Furthermore, SILIR PRODUCTION owns and distributes the catalogue of films directed by François Rosolato that various production companies had produced or co-produced. The company is now looking for new talent, in order to open to singular forms.