Isle of Ref

At a girls’ reformatory, newcomers and war spark revolt as the students overthrow their rulers.

New headmaster Lev Richter takes over The Ref, a harsh island reformatory for girls. His reforms spark conflict with stern matron Agatha. As war erupts, control collapses and the girls revolt—only to face the danger of repeating old cycles of power.

Main production country: Slovenia

Screenwiter's note

This began as a series about my father and his reforming of a repressive all-girls reformatory into a permissive grounds for learning freedom, self-governance, and responsibility. That was 40 years ago. Up until lately, we’ve been taking such approach to education for granted. But today, the same repressive methods are returning into the very same institution my father once reformed. The fight for freedom and humanity on all levels of society is now once again, more relevant than ever. In developing the series, we decided to set it “5 minutes into the future.” But our fear is, as the world is wrought with extremism and wars, that this will soon be the reality of our present. Unless - and this is our big hope - we can offer this story as a cautionary tale. A parable for our society … hopefully not a foretelling.

Subjects:

human rights, childrens rights, women, social welfare, youth, belonging, individual vs society, orphanage, mental health, coming of age, abuse