Wizdom, written by Chicago filmmakers Ashton Swinford and Zack Sievers, has received a 2025 Silver Telly Award, honoring creative storytelling in the realms of science fiction and fantasy.
Filmed in Chicago at CineCity Studios, the story takes place in a future where daylight is scarce, humans live with ocular implants in a colony called Wizdom. Wizdom is run by a biotech corp that maintains its control by issuing mandatory pharmaceutical “W strips” to the colony’s occupants, Neons, via their eye to keep their bodies from rejecting the implants.
Eos (Ashton Swinford) a professional thief, is driven by the thrill of the heist. Loot in hand, Eos meets Carbon (Elizabeth Laidlaw) a mysterious outsider who tricks Eos and her younger sibling Vayle (Simone Brazzini) into taking a drug that is rumored to show users visions of the future and permanently enhance their vision and extrasensory powers. Tripping, Eos + Vayle learn that their future fate is to dismantle Wizdom, and relinquish its control over the Neons – at the expense of their own lives. Eos and Vayle question whether their fate is set in stone or if they have the freedom to change it, and if so – do they want to?
Watch the trailer below:
Actor / Writer, Ashton Swinford told Reel Chicago, “Bringing Wizdom to life has truly been a labor of love for us all. We are so grateful for the Chicago indie film community who really came together to maximize what budget we had, using pure creativity to create something unique and incredibly special to us all.”
CREDITS
Creator / Lead / Writer: Ashton Swinford Giaume, Paragram Productions
Writer: Zack Sievers
Director: Layne Marie Williams, Legacy Marie Pictures
Producer: Grace Hahn
Producer: Aimy Tien
EP: Stanley Wozniak, CineCity Studios
EP: Tony Clavio, Harley Jackson Productions
EP: Cory Coken, Noisefloor / NextMissiun
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