The Plutonians

In Development.

2021 Sundance Institute Producers Lab Fellowship
Fall 2021 Screencraft Film Fund Finalist & Honorable Mention
2020 Sundance Institute / Sloan Foundation Commissioning Grant
2020 NYU Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Award

SYNOPSIS:

As the ninth planet’s foremost expert, Alvin Gibbs’ life revolves around Pluto. Even when his wife leaves him, fed up with his obsession over a distant rock, he feels certain the cost was worth it… until the day Pluto comes under attack. Debate is growing around the definition of a “planet”, and many astronomers believe Pluto does not belong.

Alvin parachutes into a sleepy international conference, hoping to nip the debate in the bud and sneak in a definition that includes Pluto — but his plan backfires spectacularly. His definition is hugely unpopular. Now that the issue is up for a vote, anti-Pluto forces are unleashed, turning a dry academic symposia into a battle over the fate of the Solar System. Alvin assembles a team of outsiders into a Pluto defense force, but his increasingly desperate ploys barely cover his fear that his life’s work may ultimately be worthless.

DIRECTED by Tim Delaney (Tisch Grad Film ’20)

Tim is a writer, director, and producer from Bronxville, NY. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was awarded Best Undergraduate Screenplay, and currently resides in New York where he graduated from NYU’s Filmmaking MFA program. He is a 2020 Sundance Institute / Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, and the 2020 recipient of NYU’s Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Award.

PRODUCED by Shao Min Chew Chia (Tisch Grad Film ’20)

Shao Min Chew Chia began her career as a producer for a current affairs program on Channel News Asia. Since then, she has produced multimedia for international sporting events, commercials, music videos, short films, and documentaries. Her work has screened at film festivals, including Berlinale and San Sebastian, and been supported by The Spike Lee Production Fund and European Short Pitch. She has a BA from Harvard University, graduated from NYU’s Filmmaking MFA as an Ang Lee Scholar and is a 2021 Sundance Institute Producing Lab Fellow.