Golgatha
Status: Pre Production
A young American tourist and his fiancée spend the Easter holidays in a foreign ski resort and fall into the hands of fanatical, deranged villagers who have very special ideas about “celebrating” Good Friday.
A religious thriller blending the terrors of The Passion Of The Christ and The Wicker Man, culminating in a shocking and unsettling twist.
Ever since he was a child our male protagonist Jamie (now in his early thirties) has been haunted by a recurring nightmare: Jesus steps down from the cross and tries to come after him. And always before his bloody hands can grab him Jamie wakes up. In his dreams he also experiences his father as a spitting image of God from one of Michelangelo’s paintings. Jamie has been traumatized ever since his father tried to kill him in order to “save him from an even greater suffering.”
Obviously his father was a victim of religious delusions. Or wasn’t he?
Now Jamie’s father is dead, he has killed himself. When Jamie learns about his father’s death he is far away from home, on ski vacation with his pregnant fiancée
Elena high up in the Cantabrian mountains. It is Maundy Thursday and late in the evening and they must catch the last train down the mountains. We embark with them on a harrowing journey through
hell until we will ultimately learn the reason behind Jamie’s nightmares and fears. It will leave audiences shocked, stunned and speechless.
As we have assumed Jamie’s point of view from the very beginning and never leave this narrative perspective there is hardly a moment that gives us a chance to doubt his sanity. On the contrary: we quickly realize that we are not taking part in a surreal head trip but that Jamie’s terror is indeed grounded in a devastating reality. In an atmosphere of gloomy hotel corridors, a remote sinister convent almost “drowning” in a blizzard, a train populated with bizarre and dangerous characters and a village from numerous centuries ago we are on board of a hellish trip through religious fanatism, kidnapping, child murder and things even worse. Drenched in the gloomy colors of Masters like Rembrandt, Munch, Franz von Stuck and H.R.Giger we travel through a Chiaroscuro of the Uncanny to unravel a secret that will make our hair stand on end. In moments reminiscent of film classics like “The Wicker Man (1973 version)”, “The Passion of the Christ”, “The Devils”, “Rosemary’s Baby”,”The Exorcist” and the recent “Hereditary, “Golgatha” will make for a very singular and highly unique experience that pushes the envelope much further than anything those aforementioned milestones ever dared.
Robert Sigl was born in 1962 and raised in Germany. From 1981 to 1986 he attended Munich Film School. His diploma work LAURIN won him the Bavarian Film Award for Best Direction of a Newcomer. Since then he has directed several acclaimed feature films and TV movies in Canada, France, Hungary, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. He has received numerous development fundings for his projects and screenplays and he has worked for U.S. Networks Showtime and SciFi Channel with stars like Malcolm McDowell, Eleanor Tomlinson (female lead in Bryan Singer's JACK THE GIANT SLAYER) and others. Three-times-Oscar winning composer Howard Shore is going to provide the soundtrack for Sigl’s upcoming 15-Million-Dollar-production THE SPIDER. Furthermore, Robert Sigl received a nomination for the German Director's Award Metropolis 2012. Robert Sigl's first novel, WURDILAK, was published in Germany and Switzerland and is currently seeking an English/American publisher.
EDUCATION:
Directing: Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film HFF, Munich, Germany 1986
Screen Writing: Drehbuchwerkstatt München, Munich, Germany 1989
AWARDS:
Bavarian Film Award 1989 for Best Direction of a Newcomer
Nominated for Max-Ophüls-Award 1989
Nominated for the GERMAN DIRECTOR AWARD METROPOLIS 2012
LANGUAGES:
Fluent English, German & conversational French
DEVELOPMENT FUNDINGS:
for the projects THE SPIDER, THE 13th DISCIPLE, MEDUSA, LAZARUS, WURDILAK and Dan Simmons’ CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT by MEDIA, FFF BAYERN, FFA
MAIN CREDITS:
- THE XY FILES / AKTENZEICHEN XY UNGELÖST (2014-2019) Crime Series / 13 Episodes / more than 70 short films / SECURITEL / ZDF
- HEPZIBAH aka: THE VILLAGE (2010) Feature Film / English Language / UFA FILM / PRO7
- VIENNA CRIME SQUAD / SOKO WIEN - DONAU (2008-2011) TV Series / 11 episodes / SATEL / ZDF
- SCENE OF THE CRIME – AVENGING ANGEL / TATORT (2005) TV Movie / TELEFILM SAAR / ARD
- SCENE OF THE CRIME – TARGET / TATORT (2001) TV Movie / TELEFILM SAAR / ARD
- THE INVESTIGATOR / DER ERMITTLER (2002 – 2005)TV Series / 2 episodes / MONACO FILM / ZDF
- SCHOOL'S OUT 2: THE ISLAND OF FEAR / DIE INSEL DER ANGST (2000) TV Movie / REAL FILM / RTL
- SCHOOL’S OUT / SCHREI – DENN ICH WERDE DICH TÖTEN (1999) Feature Film / REAL FILM / RTL / US-Distribution: Fangoria/MTI
- LEXX – THE SERIES (1999) TV Series / SALTER STREET FILMS for SCI-FI CHANNEL USA
- GHOSTHUNTER JOHN SINCLAIR (1998) TV Series / ENDEMOL / RTL
- ALARM FOR COBRA 11 (1997) TV Series / POLYPHON / RTL
- LEXX – THE DARK ZONE: 4.0. GIGA SHADOW (1996) TV Movie / English Language / SALTER STREET FILMS FOR SHOWTIME USA / STARRING: MALCOLM
MCDOWELL
- GROSSE FREIHEIT (1995) TV Series / MULTIMEDIA / ZDF
- STELLA STELLARIS (1994) Mini Series / BAVARIA FILM / ZDF
- LAURIN (1989) Feature Film / English Language / BAVARIAN FILM AWARD FOR BEST NEWCOMING DIRECTOR / Writer/Director & Co-Producer SALINAS
FILM
- THE CHRISTMAS TREE (1983) Short Film / Writer/Director & Co-Producer / HFF Munich
- THE CABIN (1982) Short Film / Writer/Director & Co-Producer / HFF Munich
ROBERT SIGL
FILM DIRECTOR – CV
Burgstr. 2
80331 Munich
Germany
Phone: + 49 89 3089954
Mobile: + 49 171 3551485
Represented by:
Blake Friedmann Literary, TV and Film Agency
Agent: Conrad Williams
122 Arlington Road
London NW17HP UK
Phone: +44(0)2072840408