Title SKY CITY HAYA short v8.pdf ✅

SKY CITY HAYA SHORT PREQUEL FILM "The Reklaimer" By ADAD JOEL WARDA
EXT. DYSTOPIAN CITY RUINS - DAY A pair of worn-out, utilitarian boots walking across rubble- infested ground. Crunch. Crunch. Crack! They stop. The right boot moves aside, revealing a partially buried, toy robot. A hand unearths the robot, lifting for a closer look... Its red paint has faded to a dull brown. Its plastic arms and legs are arranged in a walking position. The hands adjust the robot’s arm to make it look like it’s waving hello. They rotate it around, manipulating the antennae. The hands return the toy to its bed of rubble as the boots walk away...then stop. The man they belong to glances back, longingly. LATER Birds-eye view of the man across rubble and ruins. We follow behind his boots -- walking over human bones, broken glass, and rusted metal -- slowly rising past utilitarian grey pants and a dark-green trench coat, finally arriving at the backside of his unkempt black hair. A hand rotates a scratched backgammon chip between its fingers. This is AZZAN YONATAN-IYAD -- (40’s) middle eastern, sporting a thick beard, adorning his chiseled and somber mug. The confidence of his swagger suggests a man who is street smart, cynical, and who always gets his man. He noticing on the ground, kneeling over a small pile of guns. He pushes them aside to find a collection of old ballpoint pens. He catches sight of several refugees passing by. They are dressed in drab clothing with respirators covering their faces. Some wear hats and others have scarves covering their heads. They glance at him nervously, hurrying along. Azzan unzips his backpack, placing the ballpoint pens inside. He then follows the refugees, passing through several partially-demolished buildings.
2. As he comes around the other side, his expression changes -- his eyes growing wide. A massive border security wall, rising many stories high, topped with barbed wire fencing, stretches far across the land. A sign reads: ODISHA XZONE/REFUGEE LABOR CAMP/SKY CITY CONSTRUCTION SITE Rising over the wall, revealing hundreds of refugee tents encircling a massive mining quarry bustling with machines and workers. Two hulking, upside-down pyramid-shaped sky city platforms hang above. Both have skyrises under-construction with one being further along in the process. Supply line cables hang down from the platforms. A military patrol craft roars overhead. WE HEAR the voice of MIROSLAVA IVANOVA, the famous storyteller, booming across the sky -- MIROSLAVA IVANOVA (V.O.) Climate change, deadly pandemics, and war have plagued our lives for far too long, spawning the worldwide refugee crisis... Azzan looks up from behind the rock, catching a glimpse of a hulking hover barge, carrying a holographic billboard that plays the political ad... MIROSLAVA IVANOVA (V.O.) ...But XKON is here to help. Join Adrien Rousseau, the former refugee who fought his way up to become Haya’s chief engineer and a powerful social advocate, speaking on behalf of all denationalized refugees worldwide. His effort made our Sky City Initiative possible by inspiring you -- able-bodied refugees -- to come help us mine for valuable resources and build our communities up in the sky. Azzan looks over at the line of refugees -- Some have children, many are wearing masks and headscarves. He catches sight of the ones he saw earlier. 2.
3. They glance up at the barge, excitedly pointing to the image of ADRIEN ROUSSEAU (40’s) the famous ex-refugee, engineer, and face of the Sky City Initiative campaign -- ADRIEN ROUSSEAU I once knew desperation, fighting unending despair, and hopelessness. But I didn’t give up, instead, joining XKON, which ultimately led me to this pinnacle of human achievement, the hope of all mankind -- Sky City Haya. Now it’s time for me to give back. MIROSLAVA IVANOVA (V.O.) The Sky City Initiative of 2248, building yesterday’s tomorrow for you. Azzan shakes his head as the hover barge leaves the vicinity. He removes a small rectangular case from his bag, opening it, revealing 3 small ping pong ball-sized drones inside. One of the drones rises up, hovering in front of Azzan’s face -- a small red light on it switches on. He gestures with his fingers directing the drone up and over the compound wall -- Azzan pulls out a pair of small binoculars, holding them up to his eyes -- -- THROUGH THE BINOCULARS: Hovering distant sky cranes working on the under-construction skyscrapers that rest on top of the sky city platform. Supply line cables hanging down from the platforms and military ships patrol the skies around it. BACK TO AZZAN... Turning his head with the binoculars -- THROUGH THE BINOCULARS: MATCHING PAN down from the sky city to the hundreds of refugee tents -- -- Then over to the quarry mining site passing below. It’s full of machines, some hovering in and out and others on the ground. There are also dozens of refugee laborers... BACK TO AZZAN... 3.
4. ...As he presses a button on the binoculars -- THROUGH THE BINOCULARS: A flickering digital targeting square jumps around the screen, analyzing the many laborers... BEEP! ...the targeting square lands on a WOMAN -- ON-SCREEN TEXT READS: POSITIVE MATCH -- LORI PÉREZ Then...ON-SCREEN ALERT TEXT APPEARS: DEVICE DETECTED - SIGNAL LOST! The feed disappears as Azzan glances up at his drone -- BOOM! A security gun atop the compound wall blasts it out of the sky. Azzan grunts, removing a thermos from his bag, unscrewing it, and taking a swig of his hot coffee. He pulls out an old torn-up notebook as well as the collection of ballpoint pens he found earlier, testing them out on the page one-by-one. Most of them are dry and he tosses them aside. But he finds a blue pen that works -- Turning the notebook to another page, revealing a list of names -- WE SEE that many are crossed out until we arrive at the ones which are not... CRAIG McDonald EMILY Jessen KEN Nakamura KOBENA & EFFIA Nkrumah JEBAT Engku SANTIAGO Garcia ADRIANA Barbosa ISABELLA Sepúlveda KOFI Tulu LORI Pérez MEHDI Zitouni NISHAD Aktar 4.