Sebastopol the Movie

SEBASTOPOL

Romance: 1. a novel; 2. the languages of mainland Europe, south and west of Germania; 3. a thrill; 4. love.

In comfort, we swoon and bicker, take our time, wait to have children - choose.

In the independent nation of Ukraine, literally the "borderland" of a half-dozen empires in sequence, lost heartland of the Soviets, victim of famine, war, genocide and nuclear meltdown, all without parallel in the history of the world:

home also to "the most beautiful women on Earth".

What happens when a lonely American bachelor arrives on a whim to meet a woman he has encountered only in the ether-land of the Internet? What if she is armed for his arrival with undeniable sex appeal, an ingenious con, and the whole history of her indefatigable people - and beneath it all, another lonely heart?

Sebastopol is the second feature of Seattle-based director Daniel Gildark and writer Grant Cogswell. Exploring the controversial Internet bride phenomenon as it exists today in a vast and beautiful, historcally rich but materially poor country - the largest in Europe - of which most Americans are entirely unaware. An untraditional romantic comedy, Sebastopol takes what a transaction thinly disguised as love and uses it as a glass through which to view ourselves: affluent, even in hard times, unwittingly powerful, controlled by our biology, and seeking home.

The Sebastopol Production Team

Director Daniel Gildark is a graduate of Portland's Northwest Film Center, his first feature, Cthulhu, was released theatrically nationwide last year and is now available on DVD through Amazon, Netflix and other channels. Gildark went to the Balkans in the early 1990’s as a witness to the genocide there and as a result, spent two years in a Czech prison: his memoir is forthcoming.

Screenwriter Grant Cogswell has been a Seattle political activist, poet, screenwriter and producer, extensively publishing essay and criticism in The Stranger, and, most recently, several chapters of the Fodor's Guide to Mexico and the first edition of Fodor's InFocus: Acapulco. His 2001 campaign for Seattle City Council is the subject of Grassroots, a dramatic feature slated to shoot locally this spring by the director Stephen Gyllenhaal.

Producer Patrick Alan Taylor is a Seattle native. In addition to producing Supercluster and Element, multimedia events bringing together art, fashion, music and video installation, he has been a technology consultant and specialist managing for tech projects for Microsoft, Corbis, the Gates Foundation, and most recently the Seattle digital marketing agency Razorfish.

Cinematographer Ben Kasulke has shot the majority of notable Seattle films of the past half-decade, including Guy Maddin's Brand Upon the Brain!, and Lynn Shelton's We Go Way Back, My Effortless Brilliance, and this year's Sundance breakout Humpday, distributed by Magnolia Pictures. He most recently completed production on the Shelton-helmed MTV webisode series $5 Cover.