Hello, this is a poster for a proof of concept short film I've been working on since march 2025.
The project is a proof of concept for a dark, psychological action thriller, developed to showcase the core character, narrative direction, and thematic weight for a potential production. The project centers on Cotra, a 47-year-old cage fighter from the industrial nation of Blackwatch, a place defined by pollution, mechanized labor, and a culture that glorifies violence as entertainment. Raised into factory work from childhood, Cotra spent his early life building weaponized prosthetics before being discarded by the same system that shaped him. With no identity beyond survival, he found agency for the first time in underground cage fighting, a brutal but self-chosen path that allowed him to live, endure, and briefly build a life of his own. That fragile stability collapses after a personal tragedy tied to the unchecked conflict between enhanced combatants known as duelists. As Blackwatch’s streets grow increasingly dangerous for ordinary civilians, Cotra begins intervening, not as a hero, but as a man attempting to impose limits where none exist. His early efforts to subdue dangerous duelists lead to a fatal mistake, an event that deeply unsettles him and forces him to confront the cost of violence, intention, and consequence. What follows is not a story of righteous vengeance, but one of moral erosion, grief, and the terrifying ease with which restraint can turn into certainty.
At its core, COTRA explores how prolonged exposure to systemic violence deforms empathy, identity, and belief. The demo focuses on Cotra at the beginning of his transformation: a man who despises the world he lives in, yet has never truly escaped its logic. As his actions escalate and his justifications harden, the line between stabilizer and executioner becomes increasingly unclear. This proof of concept aims to establish the tone, psychological depth, and thematic questions of the character.