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WHAT IF THE WORLD WAS PEACEFUL?
Imagine a world without war, poverty, or hunger. A planet where freedom and prosperity are shared by all, and nature flourishes. Sounds like a fantasy? Waking Up is a film that dares to dream of such a future—a future where humanity thrives in harmony with itself and the environment.
While dystopian stories dominate our screens, Waking Up In Paradise has taken a different path, earning recognition from over 100 international film festivals and securing 63 awards. Based on scene 62 of the completed 120-page screenplay of Waking Up, this short film challenges the bleak narratives of the present with a vision of hope.
Through the journey of a modern man awakening in this utopian future, Waking Up explores the challenges and opportunities of building a better world. The billionaire Benjamin Michaels escapes cancer in 2015 through deep freeze. Waking up in an unexpected world he tries his best to adapt and understand it, only to find that a threat from the past is trying to change it all back again. It’s not just a film, it’s an invitation to envision what’s possible when technology and human collaboration come together for the greater good.
Are you a producer or manager ready to bring a refreshing, optimistic take on science fiction to life? Let’s turn this story into the feature film the world needs right now. Contact Harald Neslein Sandø at haraldsando@gmail.com to learn more about this transformative project.
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The time for a brighter future on screen is now.
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Main screenplay Registered in the US Copyright office in 2021.
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Film Freeway statistics Oct. 11.2024:
Waking Up In Paradise.
Out of the 114 selections, there are 22 “just selection”, 63 awards, 2 finalist, 25 semi-finalist and 2 honorable mentions. For confirmation of these numbers, please contact filmfreeway.com.
A DREAM
Harald Neslein Sandø is the founder and creator of the project. It started as a dream about a new and better world in the late seventies, when Harald was in his early teens. He dreamt about a better world for Humanity, where everyone could thrive and prosper on a healthy planet. In 2008 he discovered The Venus Project that had designed a world with a system very close to what Harald had imagined. Son of a Norwegian actor and director, Harald had started working with film a few years earlier. The idea for Waking Up started to bloom even more when Harald met Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows from The Venus Project in Stockholm in 2010. He had just moved to Sweden and wanting to help them realise an idea about a movie they had had themselves for many years to present their ideas. Since they had no concrete idea for their movie, and did not want his help, Harald ended up developing Waking Up himself, inviting in others from the online communities of The Venus Project and The Zeitgeist Movement to brainstorm ideas. The story as it is today has evolved over several years, and now the screenplay is in its fourth draft, ready to be developed into a final shooting draft and a full movie.
Proof of concept short films
The following scene is for demonstration purposes of the concept of the film. It was made on a zero(literally) budget by Harald and the two actors in 2011. It won the Official Selection in the Cinema Out Of Your Backpack festival of the same year.
UPDATE JANUARY 2024: In the fall of 2023 we shot a new short film called Waking Up In Paradise based on scene 62 of the screenplay. The film was shot in Sweden, finished in Spain. and has been sent to many festivals all over the world. So far it has won 13 awards out of 20 selections..! That was in January 2024. Now, in October it has passed 100 selections and 63 awards. Quite incredible, but true. Below is an ungraded teaser for this new film. To see the whole film, please get in touch, thank you. haraldsando@gmail.com