Private Project

Carbon Dating

When the bell chimes, Adam gasps awake. For the first time in 7 days. As he removes his hibernation mask, an Alexa-like voice tells him what he already knows: he has 90 minutes until he must return to sleep. Enjoy!

Trapped alone in a cabin in the desert, Adam pays his debt to the ecosystem as the authoritarian regime demands: with 10 years of hibernation to zero out his carbon footprint. Adam’s 90-minute routine is well-worn. Chin-ups, nutrition pouch, change the human-waste bag under the sleeping pod. Learn a little French, play himself in chess, and whistle while he works. Turns out being a millennial in a dystopia is a lot like being a princess in a tower.

But Adam doesn’t have a prince out there waiting for him. Instead, he has an illegal payday coming from an oil executive — the felon who bribed Adam to take their place in this bizarre prison. Sure, Adam’s hands are a little dirty, but he’s not a bad guy. Sleep for a few years and get millions when you wake up — who wouldn’t be tempted? And it’s not like Adam knew how to be part of the solution anyway.

So he chose this life. But it would be much easier if he didn’t have to do it alone. At least that’s what he thinks, until one day he gasps awake and discovers his new roommate, Phoebe. Strong and idealistic, Phoebe was sentenced for participating in the radical “Green Front” protest movement. When she discovers Adam is serving time on behalf of the guilty elite, she threatens to turn him in and make his payout disappear.

Adam begs her not to send him away, and Phoebe decides that living with a felon is better than no one. “I’ll be the best roommate you’ve ever had,” he promises. Repulsed by his selfishness and armed with a wicked sense of humor, Phoebe has no intention of returning the favor. Each wary of the other, Adam and Phoebe’s strange relationship advances 90 minutes at a time, every sleep cycle bringing more verbal sparring, romantic tension, and bedsores.

Their differences grow only more pronounced as they grow closer – and all the more intriguing. And with Adam’s release date approaching, these roommates in purgatory must face their future in a world that might not have one.

  • Jasia Ka
    Director
  • Libby Doyne
    Writer
  • Michael Sallee
    Writer
  • Matt Ippolito
    Producer
    Flee, On Her Shoulders, Disappearance of My Mother, The Brink, White Hot
  • Richard Yeagley
    Producer
    Fanatics: The Deep End
  • Caroline Klidonas
    Key Cast
    "Phoebe"
  • Matt Ippolito
    Key Cast
    "Adam"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Sci-Fi, Rom-com
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Grand Prize Winner of the 2021 Roadmap Writers Short Script Competition
Director Biography - Jasia Ka

Jasia Ka is a New York Emmy and Telly award-winning director working in documentary, commercials, music videos & scripted. Jasia grew up an All-American runner and dancer in downtown Philadelphia, a city that David Lynch described as a place where his imagination exploded, "fantastical...beautiful, if you see it the right way". Her passion for filmmaking was inspired by a similar desire to explore and illuminate transformation in unexpected places. Jasia has directed over 30 documentaries, narrative films and episodic series, all while being under 30 years old. She is also an editor by trade and often cuts her own projects. Jasia immerses viewers in audio-visuals with emotion and rhythm at their core, focusing on stories with grit and big dreams. Jasia’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Paper Magazine, Pitchfork, Bklyner, Brooklyn Vegan, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, Conde Nast, PBS, BRIC-TV, and Buzzfeed. Jasia studied literature and performance at Amherst College and film directing in London at Met Film/Ealing Studios. She is currently working on her original series Girls Aren’t Funny with BRIC-TV and several other upcoming independent projects as well as directing for Condé Nast and other commercial and editorial clients.

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Director Statement

Directing Carbon Dating was a thrilling experience in a beautiful and haunting dystopian desert landscape. I was attracted to the script by Michael Sallee and Libby Doyle because of the two main characters’ personal evolutions, the writers’ use of dark humor and play, as well as the very real stakes our lovebirds face -- which aren’t so very far off from our own world today. Using entertainment as a means to propel change is a tricky business, but we hope this film makes you laugh, smile, and most of all think about what we can do today to be better to the earth, and who you want to be as these choices become more and more difficult. On set the environment was fittingly hot and humid as we filmed in the middle of summer but even in the midst of that - just like Adam and Phoebe- our team continued to find fun. I’m most thankful for the attitude and openness of the whole crew as we explored these scenes and found joy and growth in the crushing mundanity of captive living, the heartbreak of two companions parting ways and the singular liminal thrill of watching humans begin to see outside themselves and dream bigger. Green Front forever!