Grant Cartwright as Oliver Klein and Nadia Townsend as Emma Laws (Photo by Jeff Paine)
The producers of Restoration are negotiating Australian and international multi-platform deals for the futuristic sci-fi project which doubles as a one-hour film and a 3-part online series.
Set in 2019 when humans have their memories downloaded for backup, Restoration stars Grant Cartwright as Oliver Klein, a committed family man and corporate lawyer who awakes to find his memories restored into a body that is not his own.
Nadia Townsend plays Emma Laws, a technician who works at Restoration Life Services, the facility which enables people to have their memories downloaded for back-up so when death happens, those memories can uploaded into a new body.
Stephen Carracher portrays Gavin Worth, whose body becomes the vessel for Oliver’s restored memories, and Rosie Lourde is Oliver’s wife.
The project is the first collaboration between Toby Gibson’s Midnight Snack Productions and director/co-writer Stuart Willis. The screenplay is by Willis, who made the sci-fi short film Payload, and journalist/screenwriter Matthew Clayfield.
The producers raised nearly $17,500 from 235 backers via Kickstarter towards building and decorating the set of Restoration Life Services at Docklands Studios.
Development of the script was supported by the Victorian government through Arts Victoria’s VCA Graduate Mentorships program (Willis is a VCA alumni).
Co-producer and XYZ Films’ acquisitions executive Simon de Bruyn is working with Gibson in negotiating domestic and international distribution on multiple platforms.
Gibson told IF he envisions a combination of festival exposure to hopefully garner critical acclaim and deals with international pay-TV broadcasters and VoD and subscription streaming services and their Australian counterparts.
”We’re excited because the format allows us to have a one-hour feature and an online miniseries,” he said. “The climate is exciting with reports that Netflix is coming to Australia.”