“Lumina” has earned an international cult and is now available for streaming and purchasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube and Google Play, bringing a blend of alien lore, government intrigue and dark humor to viewers around the world.
Director Gino McCoy for his feature film debut “Lumina” Alex (Rupert Lazarus, “Requiem”) searches for his missing girlfriend Tatiana (Eleanor Williams), who is dissipated by a mysterious flash of light. His desperate quest takes him and his friends deep into the desert, where they stumble upon a deep underground military base (silly) that hides dark secrets.
filmfrom Gold Robe EntertainmentAcademy Award nominee Eric Roberts (“The Dark Knight”) is featured as Tom, an expert in mysterious Area 51. It also stars Andrea Tibadar (“Warrior Nan”), Sydney Nicole Rogers (“V/H/S” miniseries), Emily Hall (“Losing”), and Ken Lawson (“In the Cut”).
“When the movie is good, it takes you somewhere, and Gino is going to take us somewhere too,” Roberts said. “This young man, Gino – yeah, he’s special.”
After its theatrical debut last year, it quickly built a cult following with an extraordinary marketing campaign with over 120 million perspectives, celebrating its genre blend storytelling, suspense-like twists, cinematic experiences and exceptional soundtracks, and the film’s journey to the big screen has been nearly shortened on 102 screens.
In 2019, Goldove secured a distribution agreement for Lumina at its major studios, but after 18 months of negotiations, cancellations occurred due to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Undeterred Gino chose Morocco as the location of the filming because of the country’s tax incentives and logistical benefits. With support from Canadian entrepreneur David Seychelles, the funding was protected by Goldrobe Entertainment, arranged by Goldrobe CEO Linda McCoy.
“Lumina” became the first sci-fi film to be fully filmed in Morocco, and had the largest interior set to date in Africa. Gino spent months designing complex sets, custom built props and animatronic alien heads, assembling casts from the US and UK
The production continued to face many challenges, including David Seychelles, the producer who created the crash of a plane at Colorado Mountains.
However, the team hired more than 400 local workers while navigating the pandemic-related disruption, resulting in “Lumina” becoming Morocco’s first major film during the pandemic. Contrary to all odds, it overcomes fans who are looking for a spinoff based on a gauntlet of bad luck, a film in a film, a story from this world, and a controversial event.
When the film was completed and distributed in North America, it was nothing more than a miracle.
TMX contributed to this story.
