Children of the Water

  This has actually been a short story that I've written a while back in high school that I'd still like to see one day done in film. Basically, my movie idea for "Children of the Water" takes place in a somewhat post-apocalyptic Hawaii. It's not too very far in the future, maybe a hundred years or so (not drastically futuristic). In this time period, a huge environmental change has occurred. Not too many years after present day, a huge natural disaster occurs and causes the Hawaiian islands to sink (this is reminiscent to Plato's writings of Atlantis). Due to that time period's technology however, the islands are still somewhat salvageable and most of the citizens are protected behind a shield-like "bubble" that were established around most of the major cities (one of them being Hilo). With that, the islands sank and settled not too far below the ocean's surface. As time goes by, the government starts to rebuild and add more technology to Hawaii to make it more sustainable in these "bubble cities." Football stadium-like lights were added to simulate sunlight, and a fake weather system was integrated to simulate seasons in the underwater cities. More animals were eventually re-introduced due to the natural disaster that had occurred. After most of this is settled though, Hawaii's government then made a decision to create a day in remembrance of the lives that were lost during the sinking of the islands called the "Children of the Water Day" (which is where my title comes from).

  However as Hawaii's reconstruction continued, the environmental effects grew drastically worse on the surface (a.k.a. the mainland). The air became polluted and most natural land was now replaced with industrial cities. It is then that the government starts making underwater sub "shuttles" to Hawaii from the mainland to escape from the detrimental effects of the polluted mainland (but this is only available to the higher class due to limited space); only Hawaii remains as a somewhat safer haven from the surface's environmental destruction. Which brings me to the actual plot for the story.

  It's the same way that other Hawaii movies start with: a boy coming to the islands and eventually meets a girl. Cliche, I know. The main character is a boy that comes from the mainland. His father is a big economical power in the United States. Due to his father's business deals with Hawaii's economic industry, he is forced to move to Hawaii with his family. Not too long after he moves however, he meets another main character, a girl named Isla, whose family has been in Hawaii for several generations (a true island girl). However, unlike most of the Hawaii female protagonists, she is strong-willed, independent, and some what of a tomboy. She doesn't need a man on her arm in order to do her own thing. For most of the story she shows the boy around town and they travel to other cities, where she explains about Hawaii's history and the land, and later takes him to the Children of the Water festival. She also explains the spiritualism that still exists in Hawaii. It is her opinion that the gods were basically angry (like in Plato's Atlantis) that their ancestors hadn't taken care of the land, and were therefore "punished" with the sinking of the islands.

  Not too long after though, another natural disaster is predicted to hit (a type of "super storm"). This time however, the natural disaster is a giant whirlpool that is about to wipe out most of ocean life. However, it is later suspected that the cause of this could be an ancient sleeping "curse" or ritual obligation that was never fulfilled that affected the islands in the past. It's up to them in the end to figure out what exactly caused the natural disaster in the past, before the super storm hits.

  As you can see, it's still a work in progress, but this is the basic idea of my movie's plot that I'd like to see one day. I love the sci-fi fantasy genre as well as adventure stories with strong female protagonists, which is why I wrote the story the way I did. I didn't really have any actors in mind for the roles though.. but I want most of the cast to be Hawaiian or someone local. As for format, although a live action movie with killer special effects would be really cool, I wouldn't mind also having a movie be an animate cartoon. I know definitely though that I would want Joe Hisaishi to do the musical score for the movie. His musical works and performances are excellent and add a lot of emotion.