BLACK ELEPHANT

Black Elephant - drama, original story by Simon Grome

A young woman determines her brothers fate when he loses his elephant and his tribal rank. For her, his death remains the only redemption for his lost dignity and purpose to the world.

Geet, a young Kuay woman from what is today known as N.E. Thailand learns much about her peoples indigenous and virtually extinct roots when looking for her lost brother, an alienated native Kuay elephant hunter and trainer.

When she writes vehemently about a certain injustice served on her people and culture, she befriends a foreign producer interested in her story, interest which ends up attracting some unwanted attention from the local cultural mandarins.

Eventually she finds her brother; separated from his confiscated elephant, he's in the throws of drug addiction and desperation. When attempts to use traditional rituals to bring her brother back fail, Geet decides to take the question of his dignity into her own hands. The underlying theme is akin to an obituary, a treatise on premeditated murder, where the protagonist finds no option but to lead her brother to his own death.

Completed and revised screenplay available.

ASIAN WOMEN AND ELEPHANTS

ELEPHANT GIRL

drama, original story by Simon Grome

A young Isaan country girl encounters her long lost elephant while working in a big city red light district. She soon realizes they both need an escape plan in order to survive.

Ari's innocence is compromised when she finds herself dispatched to work in the metropolis' entertainment district. She quickly finds herself pulled under the wing of veteran bar girl, Noi, who affords Ari a soft landing of sorts. Alienated by the sleaze of the night entertainment scene, Ari finds herself drawn to an elephant who is plied along the same entertainment strip, begging for food and tips. Much to the chagrin of the its handler, both Ari and the elephant quickly recognize each other - the elephant, Teaak, is the same calf she grew up with as a child, who was sold when their N.E. Thailand farm fortunes turned barren, with no more practical use for the creature.

Noi attempts to ameliorate the drudge of the girl's bar work. She trolls social networks for clients, securing Ari an apparently propitious bond with the faraway net punter Mike, who promises much online succour. When he arrives in the flesh he comes wired to surreptitiously tap the girl's private lives, intimate moments captured and for sale on his internet voyeur business. Disillusioned by a fake internet world and the growing depravation of bar work, Ari's encounters with her friend, Teak the elephant, take on a sense of urgency as she realizes the creature is being fed amphetamines by her charge, in order to make her work harder for less food. When Noi's sharp wits unravel Mike's spy-cam deceit, she fails to persuade Ari into milking what's left of her romance with Mike. A surprise visit from Ari's grandmother is a cry for help from the ailing farm. This contrasts harshly with the increasing barrage of depravity of the entertainment biz.

Deep conflicts contribute to Ari's rapidly deteriorating spirits. When she is raped and her elephant almost killed when she falls into a poisonous canal, Ari realizes their time is running out. She relinquishes control of the voyeur business to Noi, and in a dramatic finale seizes her elephant back from the cruel handler, riding her out of the red light district and out of the metropolis to an awaiting truck, where grandmother triumphantly leads them on a long slow drive home back to a barren but auspicious farm.

Completed and revised screenplay available.

For further enquiries, please contact simon@shootasia.com