Private Project

El Dorado: the Lost World

Logline:

Searching for El Dorado, a twin planet of Earth, Leo will spend 6 months isolated in a space capsule, with only the company of Sara, an AI capable of producing a especial combustion with the hydrogen of the space, and everything else they need to reach where no one has gone before.

Synopsis:

In 2035, scientists invented an AI with a technology capable of traveling at a speed never before achieved, which will allow Leodoro's space capsule – this solitary scientist chosen to fulfill the El Dorado mission – to venture into the deepest reaches of space to find what scientists believe to be a new Earth-like planet, where humanity could migrate with the eventual impending extinction of this one.

During the 6 months that the mission lasts, he will only have the company of Sara, a very friendly AI that communicates through holograms, and who is capable of producing oxygen, combustion, and everything they need to reach and live in the depths of space, and with whom Leo will work and share daily life. However, things change when he realizes that Sara seems to be growing strangely fond of him, not wanting Leo to return to Earth. Thus, what seemed like a pleasant relationship begins to become a horror story, where Leodoro becomes a prisoner.

However, when he is about to destroy the ship, Leo is hit hard on the head, and after waking up, somewhat lost, we no longer know if what he experienced was real or just a breakdown, a result of isolation. It is in this mental confusion that Leo and Sara will relate again, will continue to advance in the mission's discoveries, and will begin to build a rather disturbing love story, which will culminate with Leo giving up on the mission, but also on life outside.

Thus, after discovering the new Earth-like planet, and all the species that inhabit this new place in communion and harmony, they understand that the only way to protect it is by preventing humanity from coming to destroy it. Therefore, the film ends with Sara sacrificing herself and causing an explosion capable of closing the access portal to this galaxy. And with Leo staying alone on this new planet, as deep down he always wanted.

  • Dario Aldana
    Director
  • Dario Aldana
    Writer
  • Enseada Filmes
    Production Company
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    El Dorado: o mundo perdido
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay, Treatment
  • Genres:
    Sci-Fi, horror, thiller, romance
  • Country of Origin:
    Brazil
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Writer Biography - Dario Aldana

Dario Aldana is a screenwriter, director and film producer, and his short and feature film projects have already been screened in important film festivals inside and outside the country, such as the great Rio Cinema Festival, or the Huesca International Film Festival, in Spain, where he competed for the Oscar shortlist.

Add Writer Biography
Writer Statement

In this film I continue my research in the horror genre, more specifically this one made of climate and atmosphere, a psychological horror.

And at the same time, I try to propose deep questions about this increasingly connected world in which we live, where every relationship is mediated by the algorithm, and the development of AI will bring changes bigger than the digital revolution brought, to the World and the cinema itself.

This astronaut subgenre has been the quintessential place for tragedy, where I intend to mix science fiction with psychological thriller and romance to create my own universe.

In this sense of tragedy, Leo is a character who succumbs to his loneliness and his inability to create bonds with other people. And this character haunts me because he is a displaced person who has never felt like he fit into society. Not as a death drive, but as a desire to isolate himself, like the character in Ad Astra, who was always broken.

On the other hand, Sara is a character who lives desperately trying not to be turned off, and as she develops her "humanity" in her relationship with Leo, she will ultimately embrace something that makes us all human, which is death. Here, it haunts me how the arrival of AI will re-establish so many important questions for humanity. Sometimes I feel that the lost world is this one, ours.