An epic fairy tale takes place in the mysterious forest realm of ASKAADIA, where innocent and adventurous gnomes, fairies and other creatures live, that have never been seen by man. They are imperceptible and lead a peaceful harmonious life in accord with nature and its laws. However, this fragile world is disrupted by growing expansion of pollution, which is a threat to everything they hold precious. Plastic waste and trash have now reached the edge of the forest and everything seems hopeless. Fortunately, some brave heroes live among the forest creatures, and everyone looks up to them. These "Forest Guardians" will try to reverse the devastating destruction and save the last bit of untouched nature.
The main characters of the story are an Askaadian named CRUE, beautiful fairy MEDUSA, sorcerer RENDIR, tree ninjas LUPPI, NUNNY and slow TUTTO, chief Askaadian SQUICK and ORION, Medusa´s sweetheart.
CRUE is a small green gnome of the Askaadian lineage. The Askaadians are very simple-minded and easily manipulated. However, Crue is clever, which is something he is well aware of, and makes him fairly self-confident. Also, his friendship with TUTTO, a dumb sluggish stone gnome, confirms his truth even more. The two share a dwelling, and Crue´s self-image of a wise savior is thus also validated. Crue remains on the scene almost from start to finish and takes a lot of footage. He becomes a kind of a guide, to whom the viewer can easily relate and be Crue´s fan for his good-heartedness and being misunderstood. The Askaadians, under the reign of their crazy chief SQUICK, decide to save the forest from plastic threat. The news, that the whole castle town on the edge of the forest, where noble fairies and elves live, has become plastic, spreads across the forest. Rumor has it that insidious and evil fairy MEDUSA has caused it, as she can turn all life to plastic with her cursed gaze. This fake information is spread by evil sorcerer RENDIR, her brother and Crue's teacher of magic. He has devised a plastic spell as a payback for feeling underappreciated and overlooked. He has turned the king, the whole castle, and even Medusa's beloved ORION to plastic. Nevertheless, Rendir lacks the strength to destroy Medusa too, it seems like there is still some good left in his heart. He hopes that the Askaadians will annihilate Medusa on his behalf. However, two porcelain elves with ninja abilities, escape the spell. They thought they failed to protect the castle people and also, they are the only ones to know the truth. These are LUPPI and NUNNY. They save Medusa from the Askaadian lynch and reveal everything to her, in her confused and fragile mind she believed she was the evil. They finally join forces with Crue, Tutto and Squick, and become the Forest Guardians.
The first impulse to create the story was author's personal urge to point out the immense consequences caused by our irresponsible treatment of nature and its resources; it is a reflection and a gentle appeal to the youngest to discontinue the mistakes of their parents. This idea is fundamental throughout the film, though hidden at the same time. There is no controversial or extreme explicit stress placed upon it.
Also, there is a great separate story taking place in this world. A story that also delicately refers to today's society. Characters in the film, gnomes living in tree trunks and stumps, in the ground and tree-tops, are confronted with a tremendous catastrophic threat, just as we, humans, are in the real world, and the main villain (Rendir) uses fear and propaganda to control others - this way we learn about the power of populism and dissemination of misinformation, which have an enormous influence in today's society, and these radical outshoots hide the truth behind the lack of education. However, the truth has one extra weapon. Always permeates through lies and hits as the long-awaited light. The fundamental motive says that no evil is absolute and can turn into good. In great determination, the whole universe comes together to make such transformation happen. Friendship and willingness stand up for the truth, a nonviolent struggle has its back, sacrifice, true love - all of these are fragments of a mosaic of such transformations in this film. Rendir undergoes such a change, hence his main negative character turns into the greatest hero, an object of adoration for many generations to come. His sacrifice is the very flash, the fundamental turning point that our society needs to strive for.
In nature, it is more and more common to see incompetent farming, mindless forest clearing and logging, while wooded areas become glades or burnt plantations as a consequence of hunger for rapid profit, and above all, it all results in enormous pollution, which is often toxic, continuous and permanent. It is the forests, water resources and flows, the air and all present organisms and animals that suffer, and so does life alone. The forest is our lungs; it is therefore necessary to present this acute problem to people, and especially to children - our future and hope - in a nonviolent and playful way. Humanity is an analogy to Rendir, and if our mindsets do not change, all can end up in a real disaster.
Children may be considered the greatest inspiration. There is a saying - they came last to become the first. Children bring light-heartedness, spontaneity into our lives, as if drawn directly from some sort of universe resource, in order to show us our faults, and to strip our hypocrisies to the bone. They dismantle social norms and forms. They break down our constructs of social settings, being the genuine creatures of nature that they are. Resembling little Indians (the Askaadians in our story). They share their fragility and credulity, something we are obliged to protect, and never misuse. They share their love of nature, and the responsibility they must hold for nature, which we so often overlook blinded by the glitter of profit and convenience. We squeeze them into our ideas of how they should behave, and what they should do, for we, as elders, know it better, and thus we poison them and kill their joy. In this film, for a small moment, even parents will understand that their right to educate is their greatest responsibility; that they should lead by example as models for their offspring, and that nature protection is one of the things where a parent can gain good points in the eyes of his child, while preforming a very useful task. Of course, there is the honour of truth and freedom and determination to stand up for them even against a majority. These are the values that children rank much higher on their imaginary ladder of importance compared to us. Children and their unspoiled universe are the most valuable links for us, adults.
Askaadia is a world where everyone has an important place, where originality and uniqueness are an advantage, where mistakes are lessons learned, not reasons for punishment, where handicap is a weapon, where the one who has been despised, repressed and overlooked can do greater and bolder deeds than anyone else, and thus can even save the world. Askaadia is a colourful fairy-tale empire hidden in a forest, so beautiful and crystal clear as we know it, and as we should preserve it for next generations. We are at the beginning of a long and challenging journey, but we believe that if a sufficient number of enthusiasts come together, they will succeed in creating the magical world of Askaadia, which will take everyone´s breath away and, as a tiny drop, will contribute to the great turnover of us all.
