The Astronaut

Synopsis
Screenwriter: Heli Tamminen

The astronaut Jon Gray (35) wakes up as his space suit short circuits. He finds himself in a freezing wilderness covered by snow. Gray is unable to remember how he has gotten here. The Mission Control is not responding. Gray tries to look for help. He finds a house, with two crashed cars in the yard. Inside he finds two unconscious women (Rose, 30, and Mari, 65). He is unable to wake them up. The phone, TV and radio are all dead. There's a map on the wall suggesting he is in Lapland, Finland. Gray changes into regular clothes and hides his space suit.

When Gray is trying to fix one of the cars he gets an electric shock, and a flashback: he has been carrying out a scientific experiment in space. The flashback is mixed with a guilt written childhood memory. Back in present day Gray meets a young boy, Daniel (9). He asks Gray to wake up his mother. Gray comes up with a plan to wake them up with an electric shock. The women appear to suffer from short term memory loss as well. Daniel explains dragging his mother inside from the crashed car. Mari is the owner of the house, Rose on a trip with her son. Gray decides to present himself as a tourist as well.

The group leave to seek for help. On their way they crash into another car, from which they find Daniel's father Eero (30), unconscious. Without a working car they return to Mari's house, taking Eero with them. Rose suggests to not wake him up, because of his injuries. Mari finds the space suit, and suspects Gray knows more than is implying. The debate is interrupted by a discovery on Eero's laptop: Webcam images suggest the phenomena is widespread. The whole world seems to have fallen asleep. Desperation ensues.

Daniel persuades the others to follow him outside to watch yet another odd sight: the stars are falling. Gray reckons they are not stars. One of the Lights falls at line of sight, sending out an electrical impulse. The pulse wakes up the unconscious animals: the group witness a large herd of reindeer running towards the Light. Moments later Eero tries to escape, as if under some kind of trance. Gray and Mari go after him, driving a snowmobile. As they are driving, they see hundreds of people advancing towards the Light. Amongst them Mari spots her relatives, and follows them. Gray manages to capture Eero, and take him back to the house, stunned.

Eero is brought back with an electric shock. Mari contacts them via walkie talkie, reporting seeing people disappearing into the Light. Soon after the connection is lost. Eero remembers having a similar dream, with his late mother waiting in the Light. He has been tied down to be safe, and has hostal thoughts about Gray who is second guessing letting him loose. Eero asks Daniel to untie him, and tries to escape using Daniel as a shield. In plain sight of the Light he falls into a trance again, and starts to advance towards it. Rose and Gray manage to grab Daniel away from him.

Daniel reveals he has had a similar dream dad described. He is afraid to end up like him. Gray is hoping to find a solution in his memories, and asks for electric shocks. He gets a flashback from space: the scientific experiment gone awry has opened a portal to another dimension, connecting the dead and the living with numerous Lights ascending to Earth. The flashback is mixed with a guilt written childhood memory with Gray's father dying.

The Light starts to move and approaches the house. A chase ensues, ending up with Gray defending them with a powerful electric shock. Hit by the Light and the electric shock Gray ends up on the border between life and death, and is met by his father. Gray is faced with the ultimate battle inside his mind, trying to return amongst the living. To do this he has to be able to free from his guilt.

The Lights disappear. Gray returns to life, with Daniel and Rose on his side. Come dawn the three begin their journey to find out if there are any survivors on Earth.