Children of the Sun

Logline

AN ADOPTED AMERICAN TEENAGER JOURNEYS TO PERU TO UNCOVER THE TRUTH BEHIND HIS FATHER’S DEATH, BUT FINDS HIMSELF IN A PERILOUS ADVENTURE TO PROTECT THE SACRED LANDS OF HIS ANCESTORS.

ACT ONE SYNOPSIS

When a protest against gold mining on sacred lands spins hopelessly out of control, the two brothers in charge of the campaign – HECTOR and DIEGO – are killed, and it falls to JEANNIE, an American photo-journalist to spirit ANTON, the infant son of HECTOR, out of Peru to the safety of the USA.

Eighteen years later as ANTON prepares to take a surfing vacation before college, JEANNIE gives him a golden amulet, entrusted to her by DOLORES, his birth mother.  JEANNIE tells him that she has been given reason to believe that his uncle DIEGO is still alive.  ANTON decides not to go surfing, but return instead to Cuzco and seek out the truth and find DIEGO.

Upon arriving in the Cathedral Square in Cuzco, ANTON is swept up into the celebrations of a group of locals, who have won a temporary reprieve from eviction from their home, high in the hills beyond the city.  They include a beautiful young woman, PALOMA, to whom ANTON is immediately attracted.  But none of the locals seem willing to help ANTON in his search.  Even the local police chief, GONZAGA, seems eager to avoid ANTON.

GONZAGA reports to MANONEGRA, the local tycoon behind the recent land grabs, and the man who eighteen years earlier killed HECTOR outside the gates of his mine.  MANONEGRA is alarmed when he realises that the brilliant plan hatched by his lawyer LOURDES, to seize the land owned by HECTOR and DIEGO may now fall apart.  He needs that land to gain access to the mountains where huge deposits of lithium have been found – the modern equivalent of Inca gold.

As ANTON heads to a hostel, masked men kidnap him but when he is unhooded, he is greeted by DIEGO, his uncle, who explains that since their protest he has had to live the life of a fugitive hiding in the hills away from MANONEGRA and GONZAGA who would kill him given the opportunity.

Over the next few days the Sacred Valley of the Incas seems to cast a spell over ANTON.  DIEGO tells him of his heritage as an Inca prince and that his return fulfils a prophecy. He has a destiny to change the course of many lives, including his own.  ANTON is bewildered but flattered by DIEGO’s words.

However, MIGUELITO, the self appointed protector of DIEGO, remains suspicious of ANTON, and the attention that is paid to this ‘gringo’.  He encourages the others, especially PALOMA, to mistrust ANTON.

When MIGUELITO learns that ANTON intends to claim the lands for himself, he resolves to betray the American and secure the land forever for the local people, who have protected DIEGO all these years.

ACT TWO SYNOPSIS

MIGUELITO invites ANTON for a drink, but DIEGO is suspicious of his motives.  As GONZAGA arrests ANTON, DIEGO steps forward and offers himself in place of ANTON.

MANONEGRA – watching the scene from the shadows – is delighted to confront his old enemy.  He and GONZAGA seize DIEGO and spirit him away to the old mine, where their first confrontation took place, and where the two corrupt men have been holding others who have dared to cross them over the years – the Disappeared.

As the realisation that MIGUELITO was about to hand him over sinks in, ANTON is furious.  In spite of PALOMA’s pleas, he determines that he cannot live up to DIEGO’s prophecy, and leaves.

However, as he journeys back down the Sacred Valley, he is visited by the spirit of his mother DOLORES who urges him to believe in The Magic.  Her words combine with PALOMA’s to alter his path.

With renewed energy, ANTON decides to rescue DIEGO, but not in the way PALOMA has planned.  ANTON tells her that they cannot free DIEGO but films the prison on his phone, claiming that by revealing it to the outside world they can force MANONEGRA’s hand, and gain DIEGO’s freedom.

However, they are no match for MANONEGRA’s guards and are brought in front of the evil warlord. ANTON tries to bluff that he has already posted the filmed footage onto the internet, and that MANONEGRA will be ruined, but he merely laughs heartily – there is no mobile coverage here in the hills !  MANONEGRA orders them to be thrown into the cells, where they find a badly beaten DIEGO.

As they sit hopelessly in the cells, the guard outside is felled by a blow from MIGUELITO’s bolas.  He and his gang release all of the prisoners, and encourage them to flea in every direction.  Together with ANTON and PALOMA he carries the wounded DIEGO away from the compound and up into the hills.

DIEGO gives instruction that he needs to be taken to the most sacred of Inca sites – the legendary crystal cave that houses the giant Golden Sun Disk, a treasure so sacred that the Incas hid it away from the Conquistadors hundreds of years before to ensure that its legendary power could never fall into the wrong hands.  DIEGO reveals that his father had handed the secret to HECTOR and him before he died, and now it is his turn to pass on the knowledge.

ANTON, PALOMA and MIGUELITO are amazed by the beauty of the cave, the mythical Sun Disk, and the Sacred Flame that burns within it.  DIEGO passes away, but their mourning is interrupted by the arrival of MANONEGRA and his henchmen.  They have unwittingly led him to the very thing that he was never meant to discover.

MIGUELITO engages in a vicious capoeira fight with GONZAGA, ultimately killing him with his own knife.  But as he emerges victorious, he is brutally cut down by a shot from MANONEGRA’s pistol.

ANTON charges at MANONEGRA and a frantic fight breaks out on the Golden Sun Disk.  ANTON manages to seize MANONEGRA’s weapon, only to find that MANONEGRA now holds PALOMA hostage between them.  Seemingly MANONEGRA holds the advantage, but LOURDES is ashamed by his brutality, and now threatens to release the footage that will ruin him and his greedy ambition.  Realising that he has lost everything MANONEGRA steps backwards into the flame burning within the disk.

As ANTON and PALOMA leave, the Crystal Cave closes behind them, and they are joined on the hillside by a multitude of people in celebration of their triumph.

 

Contact Information

 

For more info contact:

Peter Bardon

E-mail : peter.bardon@bardis.ie

Phone : +353 87 2565864

Or

Johnny Stirling

E-mail : Johnny.stirling@talk21.com

Phone : + 44 7785555650