GENESIS 22

LOGLINE

A father and his son go on a hunting trip. He is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice.

INTENTION

By Flurin and Silvan Giger

Can you love God more than your own child? Sacrificing one’s own child is an unimaginable thought for most people. There is no reason that makes such an act understandable. However, the biblical story of Abraham and his son, Isaac, tells just such a story. It involves one of the most agonizing tests. God instructs Abraham to take Isaac, the heir to God’s promise, and sacrifice him. Abraham obeys, binding Isaac to the altar to burn him, but God intervenes and provides a ram to offer instead. This story builds the basis of our interpretation of TRANSGRESSIVE LOVE. But we do not tell it from thousands of years ago. We bring this story and the unimaginable horror into the present. Our idea is to tell an interpretation of the story of Abraham and Isaac in modern form. Its origin should not be hidden or only serve as a metaphor for the film. We want to tell the actual plot, the attempt of a father to sacrifice his son for his faith. In doing so, we want to raise uncomfortable questions. Genesis 22 is a tale of the Old Testament presented in modern form.

We've always been fascinated by the stories of the Bible. There are elements of it in all our films. Its stories are known all over the world. However, the tale of Abraham and Isaac stands out. It is one of the most controversial biblical narratives. Various religious thinkers and philosophers, including Søren Kierkegaard, have dealt with its interpretation and message. Even among believers, interpretations differ significantly. It is an unpleasant story that, no matter from which side one looks at it, raises more questions than answers. At the heart of it, however, lies a very big question: what is faith and how far would man go for it? We live in a time where we often come into contact with this topic. The horrendous terror attacks of the last 20 years make us aware of what man is willing to do for his faith. However, also in other areas such as politics or climate change, there are more and more fanatic people who commit the most terrible deeds for their conviction. We want to address the human abysses with Genesis 22, which already existed thousands of years ago, and are more current than ever. The genre of horror offers the perfect stage for this.

We ourselves grew up in the Swiss mountains. This is where we would like to anchor the story. The film is set in a fictional village, like St. Moritz, where thousands of rich tourists come every year for a holiday. The two main settings are a noble hotel and a forest. The forest seems to be infinitely large. It represents darkness. The hotel is located in the middle of this darkness. It is supposed to convey security. However, the darkness prevails, because where man is, there is no safe place.

The Father (Abraham) - Abraham is called FATHER in our film. He is in his mid-forties and comes from the upper-middle class. From his choice of hotel, the kind of rental car he drives and the way he dresses, one can tell that he works in a prestigious position. He speaks English. This also suggests that he left his country to do his deed. There is a struggle within him. He has received a test from God: The task of sacrificing his only beloved son. This impossible test seems to tear him apart. Is his faith too weak to obey God's word or is his love for his son too weak to want to kill him? Even though from the outside he is a figure that would be called "crazy", we want to make him deeply human.

The Son (Isaac) - His SON, is about ten years old. He has been deaf since birth and therefore cannot communicate with spoken words. His father is his security and support. He likes to be near him. However, until he realises that the person who created him wants to erase him. Empathy arises for him for the audience. He is the hunted. The victim who cannot defend himself. Everything will change for him after this incident. Either he doesn't come out of it alive or he survives it and has to live with the fact that his father wanted to kill him.

Tone & Style - The film should feel like the shepard tone. It is an audio illusion that creates the feeling of consistent, never-ending rising and falling. A constantly increasing feeling of unease is captivating the audience. The horror lies in the imagination, in human actions. The film works without any artificial or invented monsters. However, we would like to slightly break the naturalism in the acting and the camera work so that a certain alienation from reality takes place. The religious aspect of the film should be clearly perceptible. A floating camera that is always slightly above the height of the figures and looks down on them. This should convey a kind of divine presence, a higher power that always sees and observes everything. Uncomfortable images in which the viewer can’t rest or hide. The films of Lars von Trier, Yorgos Lanthimos, Michael Haneke or even the horror classic Shining by Kubrick serve as references for the kind of tonality we are aiming for. The music and sound design will play an important role in shaping the tonality of the film. We imagine underpinning the religious theme here as well by working with organs or classical pieces but reinterpreting them and using them in a way that hasn’t been heard before. The sound design should also mix with the music so that no refuge is found here either.

SYNOPSIS

FREJA and LUKAS (both mid-thirties) have just moved to a new house in the countryside. It’s pretty run down and there’s a lot of renovation to do, but it lies in a quiet and isolated location, among the forests and the trees, and close to a lake. Freja and Lukas’ relationship though is far from idyllic. The main reason the couple has moved out of the city is because of Lukas’ deteriorating mental health, but for the moment, things do not seem to be getting better. They fight all the time, and they don’t have sex anymore. Completely out of sync.

One day, they are at the lake bathing. Freja has heard of a specific spot hidden deep in the forest, and wants to go there to swim. Lukas reluctantly comes along. Freja tries to make the whole ordeal romantic, but it fails miserably. They get into a fight, as the spot is hard to find, and Lukas really does not want to go in. As the weeds get thicker, he doesn’t think that part of the lake looks safe, getting so frustrated that he turns around and goes home. Freja is stubborn, and when she finds the spot, she goes in even though the water does look a little murky. To her dismay, she cuts herself on something in the water. She wraps it up in a towel, and goes back to the house. She returns home to find Lukas working on the house - the atmosphere is tense and it feels like an argument is always on the cusp of breaking out. We see the inside of their home - it’s definitely a work in progress, their living room being in the process of being painted, the floors completely covered in clear plastic tarp.

In the middle of the night, Freja can’t sleep. She goes to the bathroom, her wound is bleeding and dirty, full of mud and leaves. She tries to clean it. Lukas knocks on the door. She reluctantly lets him in, embarrassed that she ended up hurting herself doing what Lukas advised her not to do. He looks over the wound, insisting that they should go to the emergency department. We cut to a close-up of a nurse cleaning out the wound. In a close up, we see Freja getting a tetanus-shot directly in the wound. She squirms with pain. We cut to Lukas waiting in the waiting room, Freja comes out, limping a little bit. Lukas asks about it - Freja says it’s fine, but that they gave her a tetanus-shot and some antibiotics, just in case. Lukas tries not to say I told you so, but he doesn’t have to - it hangs thick in the air. We cut to them sleeping at home, with their backs to each other. A close up of Freja’s leg, which she has elevated, reveals that something is moving underneath the bandages.

The next morning. The sun has just risen, the morning fog weighing heavy on the early spring landscape. Lukas is out running on a forest trail. His running feels almost like self-harm, he’s panting frantically, his visible breath mixing with the misty air. He ends up pushing himself so hard that he throws up. He sits down on the road. We see a close up of him wiping away the vomit, putting a water bottle to his lips. Vomit is still in the corner of his mouth, sweat dripping down from the tip of his nose, as he tries to drink water while also catching his breath.

DIRECTOR & PRODUCER 

Flurin and Silvan Giger are two brothers and a filmmaker/producer duo. They grew up in a large family in the Swiss mountains. Together they run the production company Giger Brothers.

Flurin, born in 1995, is the writer and director of the duo. At the age of 16, he attended the drama acting school in Zurich. Ever since, he starred in various film- and theatre productions.

Silvan, born in 1997, pursued an education in graphic design while developing his craft as a cinematographer and photographer. He started shooting fashion and portraits. He has worked with Johnny Depp, Kristen Stewart, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Sharon Stone and many more.

After finishing their education, in 2016, they produced and realised their first short film RUAH. The film celebrated its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in the same year. The film was screened at over 40 festivals worldwide and won several awards. Their second short film, SCHÄCHER, followed in 2018. The film premiered at the Critics Week of the Cannes Film Festival. The film was also nominated for the Swiss Film Price. As a writer, director and cinematographer duo they also shot several commercials, which earned multiple awards and nominations at the Young Directors Award, Edi and ADC. They are currently working on their first feature film „A Year Without Summer“ which is in development and part of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival „Résidence“ and the TFL ScriptLab 2022.

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