An obscure composer, a mysterious teenage girl, a scrappy reporter, a conspiracy theorist, a civil servant, and a punk—six strangers are held inside a remote house in the mountains by a shadowy organization.

Review by Victoria Angelique :

The feature film, ABDUCTION MELODY: AN UNFORGETTABLE MELODY, invokes a mystery that will cause viewers to begin questioning reality as they are immersed in an intense world that involves adult kidnappings and alien conspiracies. The film begins with Ms. Kim being abducted and utilizing one primary location makes the audience feel as trapped as this woman that feels like she is going crazy. What makes the story even more of a cinematic, immersive world is that the viewer will feel like they are going as crazy as Ms. Kim feels as the film begins to feel like a choose your own adventure book. 

The story on the surface seems simple, but it is when the scenario begins repeating that Ms. Kim realizes that she isn’t going crazy, but that she is being manipulated. Olga is the ringleader of this abduction campaign and she keeps mentioning to the abductees things about aliens and alien substances, which throws the film into an alien conspiracy and government involvement to kidnap people that might have been compromised by this substance. 

Olga has the power to restore each person’s memory and reset the timeline to before each person was abducted. Issues arrive when Ms. Kim and Su-Jin can remember each missing person, which causes Olga to continue to make excuses for keeping them imprisoned. Su-Jin has the power to turn back time for one hour and Ms. Kim had touched the green ooze from a suspected UFO, explaining their memories of each timeline. 

The most beautiful part of this film is the sisterly relationship that Ms. Kim and Su-Jin form. Ms. Kim wants to protect the much younger girl, but it’s not always possible, especially when faced with a much more powerful woman like Olga and a foreign reporter that will kill to protect herself. 

Ms. Kim starts as a skeptic when it comes to alien conspiracies that mingle with government programs, but by the end of the film, she is a believer.

In the year 2100, on a planet devastated by environmental collapse and ruled by a totalitarian regime, Gaia — a young member of the resistance — risks everything to change the course of history. Earth has reached the +3°C threshold projected by climate science; ecosystems have collapsed, oceans have turned toxic, and humanity survives under strict control in underground enclaves.

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Review by Victoria Angelique:

The dystopian world of AGENDA 2100 depicts a grim reality where every move is controlled and food is rationed. It begs the question of what someone will do to secure a better future for an unborn baby, even if it means breaking the law to send a message to the past. 

The first few seconds opens with stunning graphics that display a desperate mother-to-be, Gaya, attempting to send a message to the past. This level of special effects remains throughout the film, which allows the viewer to see just how grim a future awaits the world in the year 2100. The world has no wildlife left, not one single bird or butterfly, which is why it stuns Gaya to see a real butterfly behind her colleague that is in the year 2020. This is her desperate attempt to send a code to this woman that will hopefully begin to lead to a better world. 

This is a dangerous attempt for Gaya, as sending unauthorized messages is illegal due to what the government deems a waste of energy. Her husband, Alexis, is slipping his pregnant wife extra rations from his government job to protect their child. Alexis ends up being killed shortly after his son is born and never gets to meet the child that he was excited to bring into the world. A devastating blow to Gaya as she imagines the meeting she had envisioned in contrast to this stark reality that has left her a single mother that is being actively hunted by their government for being a rebel. 

AGENDA 2100 isn’t only a dystopian world, but most importantly, a story about how far parents will go to preserve the future for their child. The tragedy of the dark world is broken when Gaya sees a bird, which lets her know that every effort was worth it for her newborn son.

Born days apart in 1930 and raised in Munkács, Czechoslovakia, Holocaust survivors Magda Bader and Ruth Cohen were transported to Auschwitz on the same day from the same spot when they were 14 years old. A chance encounter with an educator visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. brought them together after 81 years.

Review by Julie C. Sheppard:

The documentary short Munkács Miracle is indeed an exploration of the miraculous. The fact that the two main figures Ruth and Magda, from the same home town and survivors of the Holocaust as young teens, have met many years later in the United States is unbelievable, but true. This piece zeros in on the kind-hearted faces of these women, and also reveals that they are still experiencing pain and trauma, almost as fresh as if these atrocities were happening to them today. Scenes capture the quiver in their voices and their intense sadness, and the flashes of anger at what was experienced.

The subtle, yet evocative musical score below the interviews carry the heartbreaking storytelling along. Another filmic element that frames the piece is the stark archival footage of Hitler and Nazi soldiers and people being shuttled aboard train cars and crammed into ghetto bunks. These scenes are sickening to see, and they are also a reminder of the potential of how inhumane we can be towards one another. A memorable quote by Magda is a particularly apt regarding what we need to do to avoid the risk of dehumanization, in that “the earth was created for everybody, and nobody should feel like they are superior, and treat each other like human beings”. The decision to produce this film right now is quite timely when, no matter the background, humans must treat others with respect.

The film shows optimism in that these women, who have gone through so much, are offering themselves up as volunteer educators in hope that history does not repeat. The warmth and care that the woman share for each other on screen is lovely and it is indeed miraculous that they have come together after all this time.