YADA

Created by Gbemisola Ikumelo, The Pitch 2016

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Description

YADA is a dark, often funny romantic drama with science fiction bones and tells the story of Evelyn’s last day alive. In a world where a mysterious manuscript determines with precise accuracy when and how everybody is going to die, the designated day of “knowledge” is a powerful thing. It is used to sell insurance, expensive trips around the world and even condoms for that last night of passion. Many view it as a gift but others, like Evelyn are just too damaged to make the most of anything death has to offer and so this knowledge simply haunts every day. Nothing changes really and even today with Evelyn’s end imminent, she is still standing still, never fulfilled, stuck at the world’s worst office party, eclipsed by the fact that Whoopi Goldberg has the same designated day as her and all the while contemplating the biggest mistake she ever made with her first love- Adam. But maybe today she can fix everything. Maybe today she will leave her mark in the world and go down fighting.

Biblical Connection

The story of Adam and Eve and their fall is reimagined as a romantic drama and responds in particular to the biblical verse -But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die."(Gen 2:17) In this film, the forbidden fruit becomes a manuscript that provides the world with “designated knowledge” no mortal should have and quite literally it is this knowledge that brings on the age of mankind’s death. Because let’s face it, before we know we are going to die, we feel immortal. So this knowledge in essence is what condemns and shames us, very much in a similar way to how Adam and Eve were condemned to death when they took of the fruit. This act of disobedience from Adam and Eve actually brings an end to the age of mankind’s innocence and this innocence lost makes for a compelling film. The moment a mistake is made that somehow changes everything and forces one to grow up. In the case of Evelyn, her mistake changes the entire universe and it has certainly changed the nature of the relationship with her husband.