The Heirs of Djeek

The Yibvlidjians' discovery that earth did not explode on December 31, 2012 was only the beginning of their adventures on earth. Thirteen years passed, during which time Cchhär married the optician Maya, and Dröuh met and married a human named Amanda. Cchhär and Maya were blessed with two sons, Diehn and Frankh, while Dröuh and Amanda welcomed Leif. The two families shared a common bond and saw each other as extended family.

Diehn, Frankh and Leif were raised with the ancient accounts stating that the survivors of Yibvlidj lost the power of teleportation when they arrived on earth at the beginning of 2012. The Yibvlidjian blood in them caused them to learn fast, and despite their age, they quickly became smarter than the average human with a doctoral degree.

Find out what happens in the movie below!

Inspiration and back story:

The thrilling sequel to Yibvlidj Apocalypse, The Heirs of Djeek was my final project for my video production class. I took into account feedback from the first movie, such as the fact that the first movie only showed them reading the history, but didn't show it in flashbacks. Also, as Yibvlidj is a touch hard to pronounce (indeed, people struggled with it in the productions of both movies), I named Djeek in a manner easier to pronounce.

As with the first installment, I would like to thank everyone who helped me out with this one. I would also like to mention that I dedicated this to Gabriel Timothy Yoder, who was born and passed away on the same day, shortly before production started on this due to complications with spina bifida. As a result, his father Andrew, who played Dröuh in the first movie, was unavailable to participate in this one. 

Director and Producer: Steven Sauke
Filmed by Steven Sauke, Russell Dorsey, Jimmy Smith
Edited by Steven Sauke

CAST
Cchhär: Charlie Ostlie
Maya: Darcy Jamieson
Diehn: Daniel Newman
Frankh: Franklin Tausher
Leif: Levi Tausher
Narrator/Djeekan Pioneer: Zach McCue
Djeekan Pioneer: Steven Sauke
Descendants of the Maya: Charlie Ostlie and Jimmy Smith
Bigfoot: Russell Dorsey
Loch Ness Monster: Himself

With apologies to Los del Río, who actually composed and performed the Macarena

Trivia:

• As with the first movie, all characters (except for Maya, who was named after the ancient civilization) were named after the actors who portrayed them, but adapted to sound Yibvlidjian and Djeekan.
• The Loch Ness Monster graciously played himself. It was a bit of a thankless job, as none of the characters even noticed him in the background!
• The talented actors who brilliantly played Frankh and Leif, though cousins in the movie, are brothers in real life.
• Being ten years older than he was when this movie was made, the talented actor who masterfully portrayed Diehn is himself engaged to be married later this year. I'm excited for him and his fiancée!
• The amazing actress who portrayed Maya is my cousin, and is now married (not to her on-screen husband). She has one of the cutest little sons you could imagine. Think of the cutest kid you've met. He's cuter. (I might be slightly biased, but my point stands. So does Darcy's son, who is now a toddler. I hope he reads this when he's a teenager!)

Yibvlidj Apocalypse!

It was January 2, 2012 when the humanoid refugees from the destroyed planet Yibvlidj arrived on earth. While they had enjoyed long life on their home planet, they soon discovered that earth's atmosphere came with some undesirable side effects. The landscape proved to be blurry to their eyes that saw so clearly back home. In addition, the air was more difficult to breathe, and consequently, their lifespan was drastically cut short to an average of one week of earth's time. As time passed, they adapted somewhat. The growth process sped up to allow for descendants. However, whatever they tried, they lived a maximum of ten days.

It was in the third week of January when they made two important discoveries: a solution to the problem with their vision, and the wall calendar. By this time, the sixth generation since their arrival on earth was beginning to be born. One of their number, in his tenth day, explored the calendar and foresaw the coming end on December 31, 2012. With his final breath, he warned his offspring to ever be watchful and remember their time on earth was short.

And so days passed, and weeks passed. One generation passed the warning to the next. Once every nine generations, their most esteemed member had the honor of advancing the calendar to a new month. And so, as time went on, the final week of December arrived. In fact, it was the evening of the 31st of that month. Two young Yibvlidjians of the 104th generation, Cchhär and Dröuh, anxiously awaited their fate.

Find out what happened in the video below!

Inspiration and back story:
As the end of 2012 approached, many of the more superstitious among us observed that the ancient Mayan calendar went through 2012. As I'm sure any Mayan could have told you, that just meant one era ended and the next would begin, seeing as that's how calendars work. However, some people got it in their heads that this impending end of the calendar meant the Maya had foreseen the end of the world as 2012 ended. As those of us who were less superstitious expected, no apocalypse happened. That year, I made this short movie inspired by the hysteria.
In 2012, I was studying graphic design, and I took a video editing class. As my final project, I wrote the screenplay, produced, directed, filmed and edited the video. I am grateful to everyone who helped out in this project, to the talented actors, to my aunt and uncle who graciously allowed us to use their living room and porch for filming, to those I consulted, and to my professor and classmates.
Cast:Cchhär: Charlie OstlieDröuh: Andrew YoderNarrator: Zach McCueCommentators: Jim Brinkman and Sandy Brinkman
Trivia: Cchhär's and Dröuh's names were inspired by the names of the actors portraying them, adapted to sound Yibvlidjian. The ancient Yibvlijian Aalb the Seer was named after my chosen brother Aaron, who had some excellent suggestions to improve the story. The character Maya, who the movie only mentions, was named after the ancient civilization. We will meet her in the sequel! Stay tuned!