ShowHideExample of a Submission
Title: Call of Sakve
Crew:
Director - Sprita Esperanta
Producer - Niĉjo Luĉjo
Producer - Severo Salvay
Writer - Tina Negrini
Writer - Pipra Tondra
Casting Director - Aleĉjo Miĥaelo
Cinematographer - Raimondo Vaccaro
Scorer - Graziella Pagani
Cast:
Safira Ĉiela - Gaja Glorinda
Sergio Carrese - Lamberto Scarsi
Petro Jozefo - Vilhelmo Georgo
Merita Valora - Rubena Karesinda
Genre: Sci-Fi Crime Thriller
Runtime: 153 minutes
Rating: Re-16 (Restricted to 16
Synopsis:
Safira Ĉiela is an agent working for the Septiman Inteligenteco Agentejo (SIA) in early 1957. Working on a recent case involving two Sartorian fishermen sailing into restricted waters, she notes their glassy-eyed look, the precise route through naval patrol patterns, and cryptic bluish papers with curious writings on them, a symbol of a head with tentacles included. As a part of the investigation into the case, she contacts her counterparts in Section 3 of the Corpo di Carabinieri, a Sartorian intelligence agency, and requests info on a tentacled beast. After some hushed discussion, she is hung up on. Ĉiela brushes the case aside when directly ordered later by the Councillor of Defensive Affairs, Merita Valora.
A few months later, another case of a boat sailing into the same restricted waters occurs, and Ĉiela demands to get on the case. When she is refused by the director of the SIA due to ‘past incidents’, she takes a leave of absence and attempts to investigate the incident on her own. Successfully breaking into the hotel where the sailors are, she interviews them but discovers one of them, a Private, is in some sort of trance and is unresponsive. The others are normal and she gleans that one was a doctor, two were Army Privates, and another was a mother of four. Ĉiela also discovers that they all shared a similar dream of a huge tentacled beast in the middle of the ocean. She tried to gain more information but facing her own discovery and arrest, she tries to escape the hotel. She was discovered by a Sartorian agent, Sergio Carrese, who was after the same information she just learned. Together, they escape and go to Ĉiela’s home.
At her home, they discuss the apparent problem that faced the two of them. Multiple ships and boats have been intercepted crossing into restricted waters that border both Septima and Sartoria, with the common theme amongst them being that they had bluish papers with a strange language written on them. Carrese mentions that some have said ‘Sacur porta!’ or ‘Sakve kondukas!’, meaning ’Sacur/Sakve leads.’ Carrese is visibly shaken whenever Sacur mentioned, and when Ĉiela questions him on it, he responds that it is the name of an old Sartorian god that turned evil and rampaged around Sartoria, killing huge numbers in ancient times. Because of the incident, the people who lived in Sartoria lost faith in religion and have stayed non-religious since. It reminds Ĉiela of a story in the Septiman religion of Sakve, an evil deity that nearly destroyed the original Septiman peoples. The event solidified their faith in their religion around ‘the Prophets’, and it has stuck with the Septimans ever since.
Deciding to return to their jobs in order to investigate any incidents of ships travelling into restricted waters, they part ways but promise to keep in touch. Ĉiela returns to the SIA and continues working. A new director, decorated agent Petro Jozefo, was appointed directly by the First Councillor due to allegations of heresy against the Councillor of Defensive Affairs. He creates a special department to handle the cases, with Ĉiela as one of the agents assigned to it. The other agents are very lax in investigating the cases, and often leave aside important details, which infuriates her. Jozefo calls her into his office and the two talk about the cases and what the possible implication might be. He notes the mysterious behaviour amongst both the agents and Councillor Valora, and Ĉiela tells him about the prevalence of the incidents occurring in Sartoria as well. Musing over this, he allows Ĉiela full access to the records of the incidents, on the official record that she is leading the special department and requires full access to conduct her work.
Some time later, in early 1960, a Septiman Navy vessel patrolling the restricted waters goes rogue and sails directly into those water. When they were finally stopped and the crew arrested, the upper deck crew appeared to be in a trance. The other crew in the lower decks were not in a trance, so the incident causes the entire agency to investigate it thoroughly, at the behest of the First Councillor. Sartorian agents were brought in, at the behest of Jozefo, with Carrese included. Ĉiela and Carrese reconnect, and while working, discover a connection to Merita Valora in the captain’s office via an official communique, enclosed in a confidential orders envelope with the Councillor’s signature and the cryptic language.
[spoiler=MAJOR SPOILERS]
Ĉiela brings the paper to the attention of Jozefo. He reveals a huge number of papers with the language, and deciding to arrest Valora on the basis of heresy and conspiracy against the state, Jozefo takes Ĉiela and two other agents to arrest the Councillor. Travelling to the office, Jozefo and the three agents walk in with their pistols ready but are greeted by Valora and some of her staff members engaged in some mystical and aquatic ritual. The SIA agents interrupt the ritual, and the staff members respond by attacking with glassy-eyed looks and gills on their necks. One of the agents is killed before the others are able to subdue Valora and her staff members. Upon questioning, the Councillor reveals the existence of a huge cult of Sakve in the governments and civilian population of both Septima and Sartoria.
Jozefo and Ĉiela leave the agent with police backup to place the Councillor and her staff in jail and leave with Carrese on a small patrol cruiser to travel to the restricted waters. Part way through the journey, some of the crew turn on them and reveal themselves to be cult members. Hoping to stop the ship and the agents from completing the journey, they attack. Jozefo and Ĉiela are injured during the fight, but the insurrection is put down and the journey continues. The cruiser reaches the waters and passes through a storm that kills Jozefo after strong winds and flying debris pushes him overboard. Ĉiela and Carrese continue the journey, in both the memory of the director and the strong desire to see it through to the end. They eventually reach the centre of the restricted waters, named ‘Punkto Atentigi’.
The cruiser closes in, and the waters become ever more treacherous to sail through until the captain orders the ship turned around. As they start their return trip, Ĉiela looks back over the stern railings. Watching through the heavy rain and lightning, she sees a huge monstrosity rise out of the water with many long tentacles instead of a body. Suddenly, her eyes began to turn glossy as she grows webbing between the fingers on her hands. Ĉiela pulls out her pistol and turns to face Carrese slowly, having been enveloped by the horror and wonder of Sakve.