Tchaikovsky
TV series (in development)
Writer/Director: Paul Frankl
Synopsis
Tchaikovsky was gay in homophobic 19th Century Russia, and longed to love openly.
His desire to be himself fuelled his compositions and lead to some of the most iconic and gut wrenching pieces in musical history.
After the suicide of Eduard, the love of his life, a failed sham marriage, and societal pressure to hide himself the more successful he became, he eventually found peace and self acceptance.
However at just 53 he was forced to commit suicide by a group of powerful peers, headed by a long term antagonist, Nikolay Jacobi, who threatened him with exile.
The Series
The series will be set in the lavish decadence of Russian aristocratic society, including balls, operas,
country manors and underground parties. This upper class world will be juxtaposed with glimpses of the ‘real’ Russia of the general populace - dirty alleyways, male prostitute filled bathhouses and poverty stricken districts. The viewer will always be reminded of Tchaikovsky’s relative wealth and social standing.
The Team
Paul is a London based writer and director, who also works as a freelance documentary editor for clients including the BBC, Pulse Films, and VICE.
His short films have screened at festivals around the world including Tribeca, Palm Springs, Rhode Island, the Iris Prize and Aesthetica and collectively have over 1.2M views online.
In 2019 he was selected as one of the winners from 1200 open submissions for The Uncertain Kingdom short film project. His environmentally themed magic-realist short THE LIFE TREE has been released as part of the collection on Amazon Prime, Curzon Home Cinema, BFI Player, iTunes and Google Play.