The Promise
Synopsis
The Promise is a post-apocalyptic urban fairy tale that plays out on the mean streets of a mean city. Here, a young thief tries to snatch an old woman’s bag but she cannot have it without giving something in return: The Promise. It is the beginning of a journey that will change her life and a chance to change the world for good. When she opens the bag, the young thief is surprised to finds only acorns. She begins an odyssey to keep her promise, planting wherever she can: on roads, on roundabouts, behind factories, at bus stops. Slowly, her city is revitalised. Trees sprout. Nature returns. People are enchanted. Communities are renewed as nature is renewed. And now people share in the restoration. Nature spreads through the city like a song. The young girl continues to keep her promise, moving on from city to city, always planting, until one night a thief steals her bag of acorns … but only after she's made him promise to plant them.
Bios
Director: Chi Thai
Chi Thai is an independent filmmaker who works across features,documentary, animation & immersive. She has been a Cannes Lions finalist three times & her work has screened at BAFTA & Academy accredited festivals. Chi is part of the Guiding Lights alumnus, was listed in Creative England’s Top 50 companies & invited participant to Network@LFF 2019. Her current roster includes an adaptation of the Caldecott winning picture book “Me… Jane” by Patrick McDonnell with four-time Academy nominated animation studio, Cartoon Saloon (The Breadwinner, Song of the Sea). Recent credits include Automat, a drama commissioned by SkyArts; IF, a RTS nominated VR feature about infertility commissioned by Google & Little Miss Sumo, the first ever documentary about female sumo wrestling; commissioned by Film London & co-funded by Tribeca & ESPN.Little Miss Sumo was Oscar long-listed & following its chequered festival run is now streaming as a Netflix Original. Her ambition is to dismantle the conditions that marginalise stories & storytellers, especially those from the East Asian diaspora. She is a cofounder of BEATS.
Contact: chithai@me.com
Author: Nicola Davies
Nicola Davies is an author whose lifelong love of nature is expressed in her writing, which focusses on the natural world and human relationships with it. She has written more than 60 books for children, fiction, non fiction and poetry, many of which have been translated and published in more than 10 different languages. She has been shortlisted for, and won, major awards in the UK, US, France, Italy, Germany and China. She is the author of The Promise, illustrated by Laura Carlin, soon to be an animated film by Chi Thai, a story with a powerful and timely message of environmental responsibility and personal change