a Rafal Zielinski film

written by John Steppling

According to Hindu mythology, we are living in the Kali Yuga (“Age of Kali”), a time of decadence, desire and deterioration…

Written by LA’s “quintessential” playwright, John Steppling (screenwriter of Steve Buscemi’s “Animal Factory”), shot by Eric Steelberg (DOP, “Juno”, “Up in the Air” and Sundance 2006 Grand Jury and Audience Award Winner “Quinceanera”) and directed by Canadian director Rafal Zielinski (whose “Ginger Ale Afternoon” and “Fun” both premiered at Sundance in the Dramatic Competition), the film stars Taylor Nichols, a veteran of Wilt Stillman’s films (“Metropolitan”, “Barcelona”, “Last Days of Disco”), Sarah Zoe Canner who stars in Agnieszka Holland’s latest film “Prawdziwa Historia Janosika i Uhorcika“ and Whitney Able as Sabrina, whose new film Monsters was the rage of this year’s Toronto Film Festival and is about to come out  theatrically in the US and Canada.

A young, recently married Los Angeles couple –  Tom, a promising architect and  Ellie, manager of a trendy modernist furniture store – are certainly on their way to affluence – they are sophisticates, but with some edges.

Sabrina, a teenager of questionable age with radical pretensions and a desperate, dangerous, flirtatious nature, becomes a force of “destruction” and at the same time “creation” Like the goddess Kali, in a way, she represents cyclical time-consciousness that transcends individual destiny.

A psychologically erotic triangle — a downward spiral of obsession and compulsion — a dangerous journey of self-discovery.

Director’s Statement

My experiences in Living in Calcutta as a teenage, my passion for the three masterpieces (Fellini’s ‘La Dolce Vita’, Antonioni’s ‘Red Desert’, Woody Allen’s ‘Manhattan’), fascination with the disturbing plays of John Steppling, and the never-ending search for some sort of illumination, created the inevitable necessity of making this film.

Exploring Erotic Spirituality in India and in my film Age of Kali 

India is a land of deep spirituality, where the sacred and sensual have long been intertwined. As a teenager living in India, I visited many ancient temples adorned with erotic sculptures—symbols of the divine union between the physical and spiritual. These artistic expressions of eroticism are not just provocative; they represent a higher understanding of life’s cycles of creation and destruction.

In my new film, Age of Kali, now available on Apple TV, Amazon, and Google Play, I explore these themes through a modern lens, exploring themes that include narcissistic eroticism.

The Goddess Kali, often depicted as the fierce embodiment of destruction and rebirth, is central to this spiritual narrative. Kali destroys not out of malice but to pave the way for transformation—a theme that runs deeply in the film’s characters, who navigate their own journeys of obsession, love, and self-discovery.

In contemporary times, we may feel disconnected from these ancient ideas, but the chaos and upheaval in our world today reflect the same cycles of destruction and rebirth that Kali represents. Erotic spirituality in India teaches us that the path to enlightenment is often through confronting and embracing our desires, understanding that the sacred and sensual are not separate, but part of the same divine journey.

In Age of Kali, a young couple’s life is upended by a mysterious girl, embodying the destructive, yet transformative, force of Kali. The film explores themes of love, temptation, and the inevitable breakdowns that lead to personal rebirth—just as Kali’s dance paves the way for creation in Indian mythology.

Intrigued? 

Discover a film that intertwines ancient wisdom with modern-day dilemmas, and let it spark your own exploration of the balance between destruction and creation.

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