THE PROPOSITION is based on real events from World War II. Two teenage girls team up in the Dutch resistance to seduce and assassinate Nazis. A transformative relationship forms between them as they risk it all for a more just world.
Throughout WW2, teenage Dutch resistance workers utilized the Nazis’ underestimation of the power and intellect of women to extract intel and enact sabotage in the name of justice. THE PROPOSITION is based on these actual historical events, but the story has been expanded and fictionalized to express a story of queer love in a time and place where this love was subject to harsh punishment. As a transformative relationship grows between Verena and Jo, Verena also explores new layers of gender expression. THE PROPOSITION is a WW2 period drama on an intimate scale. In the last months of the war, characters are dreaming of their potential futures after they help rid Holland of fascism. Verena and Jo hope they are risking their lives to help create a more equitable world, where they can experience acknowledgement and acceptance of their love after the war ends. *Co-written by Stewart MacKinnon
Talena Sanders draws from their background in experimental film and studio arts to create ethically engaged, visually striking cinema that questions and destabilizes the documentary form. Largely working in 16mm film, Sanders is deeply engaged in historical analysis, materiality, and lives lived - her work asks critical questions of privilege and power in who gets to tell the stories of lived realities.
Talena’s work has been screened, exhibited, and collected internationally, including at the Museum of the Moving Image, Museum of Modern Art (SF and NYC), BFI London Film Festival, New York Film Festival, FID Marseille, RIDM, Viennale, and others. Talena is currently an Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Sonoma State University, where they are developing a new undergraduate degree in Cinematic Arts and Technology. Their first feature documentary, Liahona, is distributed by Documentary Educational Resources. Talena is also the director of photography for director Angelo Madsen Minax’s documentary feature currently in post-production, A Body to Live In.
Stowe Story Lab Film Fatales Fellowship 2024 - Honorable Mention
B3 HessenLab at B3 Biennial of the Moving Image 2022 - Selection
Film London's UPStream Pitch 2023
Producer - Stewart MacKinnon
