Synopsis: Four applicants, with their own hidden agendas, are accepted by a mysterious corporation to participate in a medical experiment at an isolated testing facility.

With no instructions and no supplies, the human lab rats must fend for themselves and figure out what part of the experiment each one is playing. When the corporation becomes aware that a pregnant intruder has infiltrated the facility, they send in armored guards to clean up the mess. However, loyalties are tested when the guards learn the truth about the experiments and begin to turn on the corporation. Hidden truths about the different players and why they all signed up for the tests are revealed as their situation becomes increasingly dire.

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I come from Africa, the most diseased and malnourished continent on the planet. Kids lose their limbs on land mines, violence literally tears people apart, and medical facilities leave much to be desired throughout the majority of the continent. The idea of a single pill that could fix all ailments – a broken spine, alcohol addiction, asthma or even Cancer, is an idea that really got me excited. Something that could literally save Africa was a good starting point; to have all these broken characters being given the opportunity of a lifetime, and then take it all away from them just has the premise of a thriller. And of course, they won’t be taken back to their starting points, they were going to end up far worse than when they started.

An abandoned Government Hospital that was vacated 20 years ago was used as the main setting of the film. Everything you see in the film was just left there – all the gurneys, the X-Rays, everything was just left there when people got up and left one day. So this made it extremely affordable to shoot a film with very high production values for very little. I remember looking over to the photographer, who we could only afford to have on set for one day, and the camera he was shooting the behind the scenes stills on was better than the one we were shooting our film on. There’s a very intense energy when shooting a micro-budget film that you don’t get on bigger budget commercials or music videos. Everyone understands the urgency, and it allows you to shoot with fluidity and pace that keeps everyone on set excited, because you don’t have the luxury of spending two days on 5 shots. There’s no boredom, you’re watching the movie play out in front of you and because we didn’t have money for multiple costumes, we had to shoot in chronological order so that blood stains would progress in continuity. It was really awesome watching the grips and art department assistants start piecing together the puzzle of the narrative, and getting upset when finding out their favorite character is going to die that day.

With technology today, you can make a film easily; I cut and mastered the film on a Laptop. Although all the technological advancements in the world cant prepare you for the early mornings and late nights, the freezing cold weather or the power failures on set. Nothing can prepare you for cops raiding your set because they heard gun shots and screams reported by the church next door. There will always be immense challenges when making a film, even one as small as Expiration, but the important thing is that you give it a try and do what you want to do. I could only ever make a film that I wanted to watch. We weren’t going to sit around and wait for Hollywood to hand us a million dollars and a script; we went with what we had and did what we could with it.

Co-Writer Jonathan Jordaan started writing and developing his own feature films in 2007. His first project was entitled “The Crazing” which was stalled due to funding shortfalls and to date is still laying idle on the development shelf. Jonathan then completed the spec script entitled “Final Game” which got the attention of Kamikaze Productions and Blue Indian Pictures.

Through Kamikaze Jonathan teamed up with Alastair Orr to write the independent Sci-Fi horror film “Rancid” and with Blue Indian’s interest in Final Game, Jonathan wrote and sold the script to “Junkyard”, a supernatural heist film which is currently in the infancy of development. Final Game was rewritten with an entirely different plot in 2010 and is yet to be picked up for production. Jonathan is currently working on several scripts for both the local and international markets.

Alastair Orr is a 27-year-old (at the time of this production) independent filmmaker based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Alastair started writing and directing theatre pieces in high school and was soon working behind the scenes on local university plays while finishing up his secondary education.

After finishing high school as Head Prefect with academic honors, Alastair moved to Johannesburg to pursue a career in filmmaking.

Alastair worked his way into post-production, cutting countless music videos, tv shows and commercials. Growing tired of always working on other people’s projects, Alastair financed his first film, The Unforgiving, in 2010. Initially meant to be a trial run for bigger work, The Unforgiving got snapped up for distribution in Japan, The United Kingdom, France and a theatrical run in South Africa, despite it’s miniscule budget of $5,000.

Alastair identified a model that worked, and pitched Rancid (original title, later changed to Expiration) to investors.

He is repped by Zero Gravity Management in Santa Monica California with various bigger projects in development.

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