Jess struggles to contain her newfound powers in front of her criminal family

As many short films out there, ‘Kinetic’ is just a snippet of something much bigger. Filmmaker Kylie Eaton‘s script for the feature film was placed as a finalist for the 2019 ScreenCraft Sci-Fi / Fantasy competition. This encouraged her to make a proof of concept film, to give a sense of the world, characters, and tone.

As a director, I’ve always wanted to create a super-hero story. However, entry barrier to the studio system is high. The ability to license rights to an existing comic/graphic novel property is beyond the means of an indie filmmaker. So, instead of waiting for permission, I created my own superhero. Additionally, in a world dominated by Marvel, DC, and other big comic franchises, audiences are yearning to see original content for the action-scifi-superhero genre. After watching several superhero films based around a son’s relationship with his parents, I decided to explore the genre from the point of view of a young girl coping with her absent mother and her imperfect mother-figure of an aunt. These relationships are highly personal to me, and therefore I love exploring imperfect and non-traditional family structures in my work.

While we just get a glimpse at the story, Kylie already sets an interesting depth at the character and setting. The style and tone almost gives off the mid-west dusty allure from Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. But its characters and situation come in to create their own mysterious environment. The superpower is vague, but we discover its strength and possibilities which definitely sets up an intriguing continuity.

Kinetic is the anti Peter Parker story

I’ve pitched this as the “anti Peter Parker story”. Not only does this young girl’s family not instill any sort of ethical values in her and her powers. But they actively work to use those powers to aid and abet their day-to-day criminal activities. The likelihood that these powers would be exploited is high, and when you place a teenager in a home filled with generational trauma, poverty, and crime, the likelihood of her being used skyrockets.

Jess’s story is set in a small town in the Midwest. Her conflict and villains aren’t billionaire tech gods or aliens from other planets. Her stakes are more believable: she wants to be loved by her aunt, reunite with her mother, and escape the twisted web of crime that she gets entangled within. Because of these real-world challenges, the story of KINETIC will connect with the average person – these are problems many of us struggle with, seen through the lens of a telekinetic girl.