I'm about to shoot a professional feature film, whose shooting will start next Saturday - 31/03/2013. As you might know, cinema is an expensive art, specially when you shoot with professional equipmenents, as we will do.

The budget - developed below in this page - is about 10.000€. I've borrowed 5.000€ at the bank - the maximum I could -, I've found 1.500€ more by shooting a ad for a hair-dressing salon, but we still miss about 3.500€ to be able to shoot this film, which relies on a VERY STRONG STORY - check out right below.

You can help me to get these 3.500€ by supporting this project with just 5 or 10€ - or 5.000€ if you're rich enough...:-) -, depending of your financial capacities.

You'll get a series of nice personal gift in exchange... If we don't reach 3.500€, this website doesn't give us nothing, and your money won't be taken from your credit card.

You'll get a series of nice personal gift in exchange... and even a ride back to 1991 in the Renault Nevada Time-Machine if you're generous enough!

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THE STORY:

* 2008-2012 : The story of Alexandre, a French guy whose crazy love for his Greek girlfriend Iphigenia takes him 4 years back in time as he's travelling by night on a Greek highway.

Even if he doesn't understand how this happened and what the price to pay for it, this modern Orpheus decides to enjoy this "Second Chance" to fix all the mistakes he had done during his "first life" in Greece and get his girlfriend back.

* 2015 : In his bathtube, Philippe, another French guy, tells the story of Alexandre to Ariane, his own Greek-girlfriend... ...until these two stories, taking place in two different times, eventually collide in a fully unexpected double brutal climax!

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2008-2012 : A fundamental moment in Greece History, and more generally in the History of Western civilizations – the state debts issue, the economic crisis, the breaking-up of European solidarity, the slow separation of the E.U. into two antagonistic blocks, the Southern "bad pupils" and the Northern "good students".

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MY INTENTIONS:

Greece is not the "lazy" country described in most the European media... I used to live in Greece for more than 6 years, so I know what I'm talking about.

It is a much more complex country, full of beauties AND, indeed, of negative aspects. And a quite corrupted country as well, I admit. But this doesn't concern ALL the Greeks... only specific categories. So I found this generalisation really unfair, even more thinking that the Greeks are by far the most generous people I've ever met during my (many) travels through the world.

And one thing is sure: the roots of the crisis are much beyond the simple responsability of the Greek people, and the humiliating way many European leaders, Angela Merket first, treated the Greek people is also really unfair, as this people is now in deep pain.

That's why I've decided to write and shoot a movie which is meant to present the reality of the Greek society.

Through the story of a French guy fighting to get his Greek girlfriend back, I wish to present the good as the bad sides of the actual life in Greece, in order to show that the stereotypes conveyed by most of the European political leaders are far from the truth.

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Through the fictional story of Alexandre, a picaresque character who is sent back 4 years back in time in Greece - from 2012 to 2008 - and who tries desperately to prevent for the second time the breaking-up of his couple with the Greek girl he loves, one can discover the tragic and violent breaking-up of a whole country, Greece, a country whose people are suffering and where the temptation of a dangerous far-right nationalist and isolationist withdrawal has never been that strong.

A danger eventually embodied by the last part of the film, which takes place in 2015 after a "military coup" and the fallback of Greece into dictatorship.

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As Alexandre will discover: one can never escape one’s destiny... except if you’re ready to pay the price!

THE THEMES:

Second Chance is a free adaptation of the myth of Orpheus, one of the most important one in the Greek Mythology.

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It is in fact a double adaptation, because both main male characters go down to Hell, each one in his own way, to retrieve the woman they love.

And after getting their beloved ones back, each of our two heroes has to face the same temptation on his return way to the World of the Livings: the temptation not to respect the only rule he has to follow in exchange for this "second chance": to renew a successful relationship with his girlfriend.

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Each of our heroes will have a different way to deal with that temptation, a situation which brings the movie to a double climax.

STRUCTURE:

Consequently, this film develops through TWO PARALLEL STORIES, both TAKING PLACE IN GREECE at TWO DIFFERENT MOMENTS, told IN 3 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES (French, Greek and English, the 3 languages used by the main character, Alex, to communicate with the people around him in Greece).

● 2008-2012: Alexandre, a young French man who has traveled 4 years back in time, from 2012 to 2008, decides to use this "second chance" to settle his life in Greece and get his Greek girlfriend Iphigenia back to him.

Alexandre is a picaresque character who perfectly knows, deep inside himself, that an upcoming disaster is in store for him right round the corner if he changes his destiny too much... but he does so anyway!

● 2015: Philippe, another French man who has created Alexandre's fictional story, feels - like his character - that a disaster stands in his way...

But unlike Alexandre - his fictional "alter-ego" -, rather than continuing his race forward until he reaches the gap, Philippe tries to open the eyes of his own Greek girlfriend, Ariane, in order to prevent the upcoming disaster to happen.

DETAILED SYNOPSIS

April 2015. Greece, Halkidiki. A bathroom.

Comfortably seated in his bathtub, Philippe tells his Greek girlfriend Ariane the main lines of the scenario he's about to sell in France : the story of Alexandre, a young French man on the road to spend his holidays in Greece... a country he knows well, because Alex lived there two years before coming back to France.

July 2012. Greece, the highway between Igoumenitsa and Thessalonica.

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While driving at night on the highway on his way to Thessalonica, Alexandre narrowly escapes falling from the top an unfinished giant bridge over a valley... a bridge which was yet supposed to have been completed several months before!

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When Alex eventually reaches Thessalonica in the early morning via an alternative mountain road, he progressively discovers why the bridge wasn't completed yet: for some unknown reason, his holidays in Greece have turned into a 4-year journey... back in time!... although he had left France in July 2012, he arrived in Thessalonica in September 2008!

The final "time destination" of his time travel isn't a random one: he arrived the very same day when he arrived in Greece 4 years earlier to rejoin his girlfriend Iphigenia in Thessalonica and settle there with her, on September 27th 2008, .

During this first attempt to settle in Greece, Alexandre's relationship with Iphigenia had progressively turned into a nightmare, since he had been unable to deal with the specificities of the Greek society: his impulsive nature had brought him to make mistake after mistake, until a final mistake in April 2010 which put an end to their relationship and brought him back for good to France.

Septembre 2008. Thessalonica.

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After a moment of dizziness, Alex eventually understands the opportunities his trip back in time has opened to him: in the eyes of the outside world - mainly Iphigenia's eyes -, he's still this romantic young man who has left everything behind in order to join his love on the other end of Europe, and he has made no mistake yet!

In addition, he's quite different from what he was during his "first life" in Greece: he has gathered four more years of experience, therefore he's much more mature, he now speaks Greek fluently, he has discovered - at his own expense during his "first Greek life" - the rules of the Greek society, and most importantly, he already knows all the mistakes he is going to make from 2008 to 2010... mistakes he must absolutely avoid if he wants to keep the heart of his beloved one this time.

He has kept in his mobile phone all the reproach SMS he had received from Iphigenia during his first Greek life, which are still archived in the memory of the phone ...

By simply reading them again, Alex can foresee, month after month, day after day, which obstacles will rise in front of him in the course of his new attempt to set up his life with Iphigenia in Greece. That's why, as soon as he has understood what had happened to him, Alexandre decides to radically change his destiny and transform his initial failure into a successful love story.

Each time Alex overcomes a situation of conflict by reacting differently, Iphigenia's related SMS turns into a positive message, or disappears.

September 2008-January 2010, Thessalonica:

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From September 2008 to January 2010, Alex transforms all the SMS - except the last one - into positive messages, avoiding any mistake and setting up his life in Greece in the best possible way.

He avoids as well to get involved into the December 2008 Thessaloniki riots, a mistake which had cost him his job at the European Union during his first life...

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He does so well that, when reaching 2010, his relationship with Iphigenia is just perfect...

Alex is just concerned about his car, an old Renault 21 Nevada: from the moment it brought him back from 2012 to 2008, the car started ageing much faster than usual, its bodywork being month after month eaten by rust much faster than it should… as if time was achieving its work 10 times faster than on a normal car. Alexandre tries to put on some chemicals to stop the process, but it doesn’t work… It’s as if the car were ageing the equivalent of a full year for each month of his new life.

Since Alex believes that this particular car is the key of the sustainability of his “new life”, he wants to change it for no reasons, partly out of superstition, partly because he still hasn’t understand exactly what has happened during his time travel in September 2008. He’d planned to keep this car until he’s reached July 2012 again, but it looks as if the car won’t make it that long.

February 2010, Thessalonica:

Even worse, in February 2010, a new problem appears: although his relation with Iphigenia couldn’t be better, the last SMS archived in his mobile phone, the breaking-up message, refuses to disappear.

Alex had received this specific SMS after he caused a huge scandal in the island where Iphigenia had been appointed as a trainee doctor... because he had found her there with another man. The problem is: the first time, as their relationship was in a terrible state, Iphigenia had all reasons to cheat on him.

But after his second life, she's deeply in love with him.

Why would she do such a thing to him?

And yet, that's a fact: since the SMS didn't disappear, this is bound to happen. And Alexandre can't stand the mere thought of it!

Is there any way to prevent this disaster from happening?

More important: would it be really reasonable to disrupt the ways of Destiny in order to prevent this from happening?

7 April 2010, Thessalonica:

The Athens stock-market is collapsing. The country falls down deep into a major economical and political crisis.

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But Alex doesn't care: he has found a way to prevent Iphigenia to cheat on him... He'll prevent her encounter with her "future" lover by taking his girlfriend with him in France: he has written a script based on his own story and he's about to sell it to an editor in Paris.

He has convinced Iphigenia to come with him to Paris. She won't go to the wedding where she was supposed to meet the lover.

Alexandre is worried though: so far, he has only reacted differently to events that were to happen in any case. Now this time he willingly creates a new branch on the road of destiny. And he has no guarantee regarding the result … He may simply risk disappearing !

Yet Alexandre decides to take the risk, he takes Iphigenia with him to France. There're late, but fortunately the giant bridge where Alex had nearly fallen at the time of his leap in time from 2012 to 2008 is now completed, at least in the East-West – Thessalonica-Igoumenitsa – direction, the route they will follow. The other side of the viaduct is still under construction.

7 April 2010, THESSALONICA - IGOUMENITSA MOTORWAY

They finally leave Thessalonica. Iphigenia, exhausted, moves to the back seat to have some rest. The beginning of the journey is uneventful. When they arrive in Ionnina, they have made up the lost time and they are not far from Igumenitsa.

Alex is happy. He realises that on his last ride on this road in that direction, when he left Greece for good in 2010, the permanent stress of the two years spent in the country had deteriorated his eyesight. At the time he couldn’t drive without glasses, while in his new life his eyesight is perfect.

7 April 2010, IONNINA-IGOUMENITSA SECTION OF THE MOTORWAY, CLOSE TO THE GIANT VIADUCT

As they arrive close to the place where Alex had made his return to the past, two years before, a slight mist rises and runs on the roadway. They cross the huge viaduct without any problem, but a few hundred metres farther, Alex’s eyesight suddenly blurs.

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He prepares to stop when he feels something like a pimple growing on his forehead. He turns round to ask Iphigenia to watch what it is about: the girl has disappeared from under the blanket. Alex looks at himself in the mirror: it not a pimple, it is a scar, contracted during the fight he had with Iphigenia’s ex-boy-friend … a fight that never took place during his second life !

Alex cannot ignore what is happening: he has come back to the “future”, to August 2012, the precise moment when he returns from his totally failed holidays in Greece.

AUGUST 2012, IONNINA-IGOUMENITSA SECTION OF THE MOTORWAY, CLOSE TO THE GIANT VIADUCT

Totally devastated, Alex has only one thought in mind: there exists a “time bridge” between the different periods at this precise place, and if he manages to drive past this section of the motorway at a specific speed, he will be able to return to 2010, the time when he had once and for all won his girlfriend’s heart … or in 2008, even if the latter means starting everything over again !

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He then engages a mad race against time : all night long, Alexandre keeps on riding in both directions on this section of the motorway, uninterruptedly driving on both sides of the bridge taking the nearest exit and entrance, something possible in 2012 when the two roadways of the viaduct had been completed.

The moment he comes to feel this attempt is vain, as he is running out of petrol and dawn is rising behind the mountains, Iphigenia reappears at the back of the car. Alex has managed to ride back to April 2010, to the day when they are heading for France to negotiate his contract !

7 April 2010, the Highway

Alex feels exhilarated. He begins to weep. Iphigenia doesn’t understand why. From the front seat, he faces her, she takes his face between her hands ... and suddenly starts screaming ! Alexandre turns round to look at the road … unfortunately it is already too late: Iphigenia has reappeared as they are heading for Thessalonica, not Igoumenitsa.

In 2010 the giant bridge is completed only on one side: not the side they are driving on! Their side, the Igoumenitsa-Thessalonica direction, has not yet been constructed. It takes too much time for Alexandre to realise his mistake. They have already knocked over the traffic cones, and the car, rocket-like, has already taken its flight at the end of the unfinished roadway structure. Iphigenia screams from the back seat. At the steering-wheel Alex remains stoical, waiting for his fate in resignation.

Interminable is the fall of the car when it plunges into the gaping void, as if the womb of the earth had opened to engulf it in its depths. Then it disappears with its occupants in the fog and the night.

April 2015. Greece, Halkidiki. Philippe and Ariane in the bathroom.

In the bathtube, Philippe has just finished telling Alexandre and Iphigenia's story. On the other side of the tub, sitting as far from him as possible, Ariane remains silent, an ice-cold look on her face. Philippe, his eyes filled with tears, looks the other way. A long silent interval elapses.

Ariane finally asks him, as calmly as possible, whether this is the way he imagines the end of their relation. Philippe doesn’t reply.

A ludicrous idea then crosses Ariane’s mind.

Without seeking Philippe’s approval, she grabs his cell phone from a chair close to the tub, she immediately selects the “Messages” folder, in which she finds a “Ariane” file, which she opens...

She reads something without showing any sign of visible emotion. She takes a look at Philippe, who is anxiously staring at her, she reads again the contents of the telephone, something which seems to baffle her: in Philippe’s phone, she’s just found a text messages he has received from her… a breaking-up text message she has never written… yet!

Indeed, this text message is dated June 15th 2015… that’s to say two months forward in time… She’s reading a message from the future! Written by her own hand!

A message which can exist only if Philippe, like his fictional alter-ego, has travelled himself through time! She can't believe it...

After a while, she puts back Philippe’s phone on the chair. She takes the land telephone of the flat and calls her father, telling him that she doesn’t leave for France any longer.

She adds that she won’t come to the wedding she was supposed to miss because of her trip to France either: she will leave the next day for Folegandros, the island where she has been appointed as a doctor, to look for a flat.

Her father wants to go with her, she sharply answers that she doesn’t need him, and that, at any rate, Philippe will be with her to help her choose THEIR apartment. “THEIR apartment ?” Ariane’s father, beside himself with surprise and anger, wants some explanation. She just answers that he has very well understood, then she hangs up.

Philippe is baffled. He was waiting for sharing officially a flat with Iphigenia from the second he arrived in Greece. Ariane puts one condition though... only one. She doesn't even precise which one.

After a while, Philippe gets it: he takes the land phone, then calls the French producer to who he was supposed to sell the story of Alex and Iphigenia the next week. He starts by telling him that he's not sure anymore to sell his script. Ariane's lips display a faint smile of happiness. She slips forward in the tub, brushing off the foam, and snuggles up in Philippe’s arms.

The camera has meanwhile moved towards Philippe’s cell phone, that Ariane has laid on the chair close to the bathtub. The message of the future, the breaking-up message from June 2015, has started to flash.

Ariane kisses Philippe, murmuring “I love you” in his ear.

Suddenly, as Philippe tells without ambiguity to the producer that he has made up his mind and that he won’t sell the script, his cell phone starts ringing continuously on the chair. The message from June 15th 2015 disappears, leaving an explicit icon:

“EMPTY”.

YOU CAN READ THE WHOLE MORE DEVELOPED STORY HERE:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7TFszjXgMC9YWNrWGtPSTJmeUE/edit?usp=sharing

SECOND CHANCE / C.Magnien / Feature Film

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