with Jimmy Beauquesne
Artistic residency at SOOPA, platform for creation
Thanks to Catarina Miranda
Founded in 1999, in Porto, SOOPA is a multidisciplinary platform for international creation, organized around a group of artists and thinkers. It is a laboratory for music, visual and performing arts, whose activities include the production and release of music and publications, the promotion of concerts and conferences and the creation of theatre plays and films, in a multifaceted process of continuous research.
Purpose is primarily the script for a three-episode series. The story takes us into a world where the star system has evolved into a sovereign talent show of the same name. Pop stars and fame-seeking aspirants live on a secured island called Argus, under the watchful eyes of millions of viewers and the control of an eccentric police force and nuns with occult overtones. Hollywood glamour meets the violent mechanics of a survival and surveillance game. The story begins with the advent of a new season of this reality show, marked by the selection of five candidates. Through them and their training to become world-renowned stars, the neon pink veneer of Argus soon begins to peel away...
The plot mainly revolves around the character of Dorothy, one of the new candidates who, believing she witnesses the disappearance of singer Justin B. in the first episode, embarks on a hallucinatory investigation involving conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomena. Over the episodes, the anti-hero is thrown into altered states of consciousness where she experiences a romance with Justin B. Her visions become increasingly disturbing as they seem to gradually contaminate the island of Argus's surroundings. Ivy vines wrap around cameras. Purple freesias grow through the concrete. A pink mist spreads at dawn… Dorothy begins to doubt the reasons for the island's existence and the intentions of those who govern it. Is the Sightcorp enterprise and the Sisters organization fostering a paradise for artists, or are they running a dangerous laboratory? Are the stars leaders or guinea pigs?
Dorothy's obsessions gradually affect the rest of the island's population. The story particularly follows the consequences of her fears on her relationship with her best friend, Beverly, who also joins the show. Determined to become the greatest pop star of her generation, Beverly tires of listening to her friend's insane and narcissistic words. Under the advice of Charlie, a mysterious figure at the head of the island, she even goes so far as to push him away to avoid being slowed down in her quest for fame. But will she really be able to abandon him when he finds himself in danger? Indeed, Dorothy will attempt to understand what happened to Justin, risking her life in the process… Enlightened or hindered by the ambitions and desires of the other candidates, her investigation will lead her through fraudulent corporations, extremist activism, conspiracy theories, and alien technologies… in hopes of finally unveiling the secret of Argus...