Salvation

Salvation

TAGLINE
Make your freedom your religion.

LOGLINE
Salvation is a 50-minute-long crime-drama with six episodes presenting a story based on real events. The series pictures an escape mission from a sect, but the real topic is the two main characters’ realisation of their individual freedom, the impact of their life-changing decisions and their family relationships.

SYNOPSIS
1984, Hamburg. Petra, a 19-year-old Hungarian, tries to escape the frightening future the Church of Scientology has planned for her. Petra lives in the Center of the Church in Hamburg, where she works and attends seminars every day. She joined the too-good-to-be-true society in Soviet-occupied Hungary a few months earlier, alongside four other young Hungarians: Tamás, Ilka, Béla, and Márti. They all got drawn in hoping for a more self-dictated life and personal growth abroad. They were told that they will be the ones who will build up the organization in Hungary. However, Petra soon realizes what is behind the precisely built system: the Church is a huge company that aims to gain money and power by brainwashing their members.
The group’s personal documents and their little money were taken away, and all ties to their families and friends were cut. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t go back to Hungary: as dissidents, they would be imprisoned after returning. Mesmerized and indoctrinated by the Church, however, the other Hungarians do not even mind.
Petra desperately wants to leave and manages to call her parents. She explains her situation briefly, but has to hang up. Her parents alert a Hungarian diplomat in Bonn, Gyula, who assigns Imre (45), the chief of the Hungarian Travel Agency in Hamburg to help. At first, Imre is suspicious of Gyula due to the current political situation, with defections and spying. Moreover, he has issues of his own: He and his family moved to Germany only recently, and his younger daughter, Silvia (14), has difficulty fitting in. But Imre decides to trust Gyula, and together they uncover the mystery of the inmates, who are in more danger than expected: There is a ship, which serves as the Headquarter of the Main Board of the Church. In three weeks’ time, the Hungarians are meant to be placed there to work as slaves. While Imre and Gyula coordinate help from the outside, inside the center Petra lives a two-faced life. She behaves like a trustful member, but secretly looks for allies. When Tamás joins her mission to escape, he takes the blame for one of their activities and is locked into a guarded room.
Eventually, Petra manages to have an outside duty and meets Imre, who informs her about the ship. Joining forces, Petra and Imre create an escape plan. While Petra tries to convince the others to leave with her, Imre’s daughter Silvia is introduced to the Church by a teacher. After attending seminars, she is spellbound and decides to join the cult and leave her parents for good. As the day of the escape arrives, both Imre and Petra have to risk it all: Imre must convince Silvia that she is loved and accepted at home, and for Petra this is the last and only chance to save herself and the group.

Pitch

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Anikó Mangold
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