Feature Film
Loya
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Details
Union:
Union or Non union
Area of media:
Feature Film
Network:
Paid?:
Yes
Rates:
$400 for Principal roles, $300 for Actor roles. Please submit both ACTRA and non union talent. From previous experience, the director feels that there are more non union talent who are Turkish speaking , but we would like to know what talent are available who are union. We will only ask for self tapes from the non union talent at this time.
Deadline:
Oct 11, 2024
Callbacks:
Late October or November, date TBD
Shooting starts:
Mar 3, 2025
Shooting finishes:
Oct 28, 2024
Shooting locations:
Toronto (locations will be in CGI)
Cities for response:
Toronto
Comments
Note that these characters all speak TURKISH as a first language. The sides are all in Turkish, with the exception of Loya who speaks some English.
Storyline
Loya, an eleven-year-old nature-child, lives in the mountains of Turkey, where generations of her family lived. Following the death of her adoptive father in a landslide due to deforestation, Loya is diagnosed with cancer. She reconnects with her birth father and finds out he is the head of a Canadian gold mining company destroying her village. To save her land, she goes on a journey to reconcile her relationship with her father while struggling with a terminal illness.
Roles
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Lead | Loya | Female 10 - 12 Years old |
Description Female, 11, Turkish, deep hazel eyes, light brown wavy hair, an inquisitive soul, beautiful, innocent, intelligent, courageous, with a presence beyond her years, Loya is an articulate, imaginative little girl with a deep love of the beautiful land around her village; she's never happier than when she's out in nature. However, Loya is often sick with coughs and fever, and starts living with her devoted grandmother, Erzade, in the mountains for her health. Her mother, Havva, works and lives in the nearby city with her father, Berat. Loya learns to read fortunes in coffee grounds from her grandmother, and she becomes very good at it, weaving imaginative and inspiring stories of the future for women in the village. Loya knows that the land around her is in danger of being destroyed by deforestation by the mining companies, and she's devastated when Berat dies in a landslide as a result. Shortly after, Loya gets diagnosed with lymphoma. She spends a lot of time with the her best friend Bahar’s mother who is an activist and leads the protests in town. Her mother Havva can’t afford to live in the city anymore and moves to the village with her grandmother Erzade. Havva reaches out to Loya’s biological father Richard for Loya’s medical expenses. This is a total shock to Loya who thought she already had a father. Furthermore, in a riot by environmental activists, Loya finds out that Richard is leading the gold mining operation that killed her father and is destroying her family land. When Loya finds about this secret, she makes it a point, despite her increasing illness, to imbue in her father a love of the land and stop the destruction... Loya is bilingual, she is learning English, but Turkish is her first language and she must speak both. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Supporting Lead | Erzade | Female 60 - 65 Years old |
Description Female, 63, Turkish, a sturdy, loving, spiritual woman who possesses the air of worry that comes from having to work hard all the time, Erzade is Havva's mother and the doting grandmother of 11 year old Loya, who gets diagnosed with lymphoma. Erzade lives in the beautiful countryside outside the town of Artvin, where Havva and her husband Berat live, and Loya has come to live with her because of her health. Erzade adores Loya and will do anything for her granddaughter; she even teaches Loya how to read coffee grounds, which Erzade does for various women of the village, and Erzade is very proud of Loya's talent at reading and telling fortunes. Erzade is a traditional Turkish woman who, when she learned that Havva was pregnant out of wedlock, forced her to marry Berat, a distant cousin, fearful that Havva's brothers would kill her because of the disgrace to the family. When Havva contacts Richard, Loya's biological father, to tell him the truth and get help with Loya's medical expenses after Berat dies, Erzade makes it very clear that she does NOT approve this decision... Erzade only speaks in TURKISH | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Supporting | Nese | Female 35 - 40 Years old |
Description Female, 38, Turkish, the mother of Loya's friend Bahar, warm, gracious, hospitable to Loya. Nese lives in the same village as Loya and her grandmother. Nese is an activist who leads the protests against the mining companies' destruction of the local forests, and she is very knowledgeable about the entire situation. She’s dedicated, fast, and fury. Nese is a constant in Loya's life, and she's very pleased when Loya joins her fight against the gold mining company. Nese only speaks in TURKISH. | ||
| Role type | Role | Gender & Age range |
| Supporting | Berat | Male 30 - 35 Years old |
Description Male, 34, Turkish, dark features, athletic but short, somewhat confident, hard working, traditional, Berat is Havva's husband and a distant cousin. He was in love with her since childhood and agreed to marry her rather than have her bring disgrace to the family by her out of wedlock pregnancy by another man. Berat, a logger who works for the mining company, loves 11 year old Loya as his own daughter, and he's a very good father to her. Berat had gambling issues in the past. Although they’re in a financially difficult situation, Berat doesn't like his wife working night shifts at her hotel concierge job in order to make more money; he intends to work more himself. Unfortunately, Berat is killed in one of the frequent local landslides. After he dies, they find out that he lost all their savings in gambling. Berat only speaks in TURKISH | ||