The year is 1993. The Soviet Union has never collapsed. The Cold War never ended. The world is on the brink of the nuclear holocaust. A special unit of Communist Intelligence Agents, known as Romeo Spies is formed. Their job is to infiltrate the lives of American politicians and officials, by seducing their wives, secretaries, and daughters. Romeos are known for their good looks, exquisite manipulation skills, art of shapeshifting, and cold-blooded ruthlessness.

Our film tells a story of two secret lovers. He is a Romeo. She is his target. Taking place in a single hotel room over the course of one night, Project Romeo is a noir espionage thriller set in an alternate universe. What happens in that room could change the courses of the characters’ lives forever.

On a personal level, this is a story about unfulfilled promises and  betrayal, romantic manipulation and sexual power struggles, the  dark nature of a human mind and an examination of how far can one go in order to fulfill self-proclaimed duty. On a larger scale, we attempt to provide a commentary on a global political climate through a microcosm of a dysfunctional couple. Having a multinational team of creatives working on the project, we aim to  introspect into our own national identities and reflect on the cultural impact of the Cold War.

Our passion for this story began with our fascination with the Cold War era, classic espionage films, and 20th century aesthetics. Over the past two years, the film’s creators, Jade Kaiser (writer) and Dmitriy Usov (writer/director), have been developing films and writing screenplays that revolve around Cold War history. Project Romeo is a manifestation of their love for historical fiction of that age, as well as an attempt to build a new cinematic world.

Our team consists of Loyola Marymount University graduates and students who share their passion for film, storytelling, and all things creative. We believe that our team brings together diverse voices and provides artistic perspectives from all around the globe. 

Right now, the world’s political climate is incredibly tense. It seems like global powers are ruled by conflict and are separated by miscommunication; it feels like the Cold War has never ended. Our film is set in a fictional world, but we want to show that it is not very different from our own; the characters are motivated by false information, manipulation and distrust for each other. We want our audience to reflect back on the global state of political climates. 

The road to making Project Romeo has had its challenges. The bigger world of Romeo Spies and–an alternate universe in which they are set in–has been in development for more than a year. The film’s production is scheduled to take place toward the end of January 2022, amidst the CoVid-19 Omicron variant pandemic in the U.S., which has created many obstacles.

As the rapid spread of CoVid creates concerns for health and safety, our team has come up with a careful plan to ensure that the Project Romeo cast and crew remain safe and comfortable. We have dedicated part of our budget to testing and sanitation materials so that we can provide antigen testing on both days of our shoot and keep our spaces clean and virus-free. Our whole team takes the pandemic very seriously, so we have come up with a system to regularly sanitize our shooting space and keep the number of people in each room to a minimum while maintaining social distancing.

Amidst all the challenges that the external world brings, our team remains positive. We strongly believe that the story we are telling is important and must be told in the current global political climate. The nostalgia for the past and multi-generational love for classic spy flicks will help our film to find its audience, and will lay a foundation for a larger franchise. Currently, we have a Project Romeo podcast series in development, and we plan to turn this 12 minute film into a feature-length film over the next couple of years. 

How You Can Help:

Right now, we’re trying to raise $4,500 to cover production costs. On our wishlist tab, we included a breakdown of where each amount is going. You can donate to the project as a whole, or you can choose one of our Wishlist items to support that department specifically!

Even if you cannot make a monetary donation, we need help spreading word about our project. Another way you can support Project Romeo is by talking about it to friends! You can follow us on Instagram, @projectromeofilm, and share our posts, or you can make your own posts. Below, we have a few captions you can copy and paste:

I just read about a cool film that’s raising funds called Project Romeo! Check it out on Instagram @projectromeofilm and on Seed&Spark! www.seedandspark.com/fund/project-romeo

Fan of spy films? Take a look at this new short film, Project Romeo! Instagram: @projectromeofilm, Seed&Spark: www.seedandspark.com/fund/project-romeo