🎬SHORT FILM SCRIPT – “THE SAND STORY”
FADE IN:
EXT. DESERT VALLEY – DAY
A vast desert stretches endlessly. Heat shimmers in the air. A modern tourist bus rumbles down a dusty path, completely out of place.
It stops in a wide valley settlement, where thousands of tents and sand‑built structures fill the landscape – like an ancient refugee camp fused with a modern downtown.
Passengers step out, blinking at the sun.
DAVID (V.O.)
I don’t know how we got there. One moment we were on a bus… the next, we were in the desert after the Exodus – only everything looked strangely familiar.
EXT. SAND CITY – CONTINUOUS
The group walks through the settlement. Every “building” is sculpted from sand – bars, shops, cafés, even a nightclub – all fragile, all temporary.
People move around as if this is normal life.
🎬 “THE PLASMA TV”
EXT. SAND CITY – LATER
David walks through another part of the settlement. Here, the sand‑structures are even more ambitious – sand microwaves, sand couches, sand lamps, all shaped with childlike creativity.
A MAN sits proudly in front of a large, flat sand rectangle propped up on two uneven sand legs. He watches it with full concentration, as if it’s broadcasting something.
David steps closer, trying to understand what he’s looking at.
DAVID
What is this supposed to be?
TV OWNER
(with pride) My plasma TV! Best picture in the whole valley.
David leans in. The “screen” is just a smooth slab of sand.
He accidentally touches the corner – CRACK – the entire sand “TV” collapses into a pile.
The owner jumps up, horrified.
TV OWNER
(shouting) No! No, no, no! What have you done?! You broke my TV set!
DAVID
(confused, apologetic) Your… TV?
TV OWNER
Yes! My plasma! I spent all morning sculpting the frame! Now how am I supposed to watch the news?!
He gestures angrily at the pile of sand.
David looks down – nothing but dust and grains.
DAVID (V.O.)
In this place, imagination was reality… and reality was just sand waiting for the wind.
A MAN stands proudly beside a sand‑sculpted “FRIDGE.” It looks like a lumpy block with a handle drawn into it.
David just touched it and – CRUNCH – the sand collapses.
STORE OWNER
(shouting) Hey, man! Watch where you’re going! You just destroyed my fridge – all my supplies were in there!
David looks down. It’s just sand.
DAVID
(confused) Your… fridge?
STORE OWNER
Yes! My fridge! Now everything’s ruined!
He gestures at the sand as if it’s obvious.
EXT. NARROW PASSAGE – MOMENTS LATER
The group enters a dry riverbed, already tight, but someone has built two tall sand walls on either side, leaving only a narrow slit for one person at a time.
David squeezes through the narrow gap. His shoulder brushes the corner of a wall – CRUMBLE – the entire structure collapses.
A MAN leaps out, horrified.
WALL BUILDER
(shouting) Ah man! Look what you did! You destroyed my border!
DAVID
Your… border? What do you mean?
WALL BUILDER
I was just about to put a gate here! Then I could’ve charged everyone who passed through! And now – now it’s all gone!
He gestures dramatically at the pile of sand.
David stares, bewildered.
EXT. SAND CITY – WIDE SHOT
The camera pulls back, revealing the entire valley:
- People sculpting sand into modern objects
- Others arguing over invisible “property”
- Children playing with sand “toys”
- Merchants selling sand “goods”
- A sand “bar” with a sand “counter”
- A sand “bus stop” with no buses
Everything is imagination pretending to be civilization.
DAVID (V.O.)
It was like watching the birth of society… People trying to rebuild the world they once knew – using nothing but sand, memory, and desire.
EXT. DESERT – SUNSET
David stands at the edge of the settlement, watching the wind slowly erase the sand structures.
DAVID (V.O.)
And yet… no matter how real they tried to make it… the desert reminded them – and me – that nothing built on illusion can last.
The wind blows. Walls collapse. Shops dissolve. Borders vanish.
Only the desert remains.
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