Original feature screenplay by Steven James Garry
Gulf of Aden
A geopolitical science-fiction thriller in which an advanced AI identifies a hidden pattern connecting escalating global events.
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Logline
In a near-future Mediterranean warzone, an advanced AI identifies a hidden pattern connecting escalating global events, drawing a jaded outlaw and a teenage prodigy into a struggle against a rising global regime.
Large-scale speculative cinema grounded in human behaviour, geopolitical pressure and a mystery that moves from noise to signal, pattern and consequence.
Why this film now
Current, cinematic, and emotionally accessible.
As conflict, migration pressure, AI acceleration and public distrust collide, Gulf of Aden turns contemporary pressure into a human, cinematic thriller. Its central question is simple: what happens when human coherence begins to move faster than the systems designed to divide it?
Project Highlights
Original Sci-Fi IP
A distinctive original world with room to expand beyond a single story.
Global Scale
Ports, tankers, drones, naval systems, civil unrest, and Mediterranean pressure points.
Human Centre
High concept grounded in loyalty, humour, sacrifice, and emotional truth.
Established Visual Direction
Proof-of-concept imagery establishes tone, scale, mystery and a distinctive cinematic world.
Recognition
Gulf of Aden screenplay awards & festival recognition
2026 BlueCat Screenplay Competition — Semifinalist
Listed by BlueCat under Steve Garry, Gulf of Aden was selected among 83 feature semifinalists from 2,715 feature submissions.
Official BlueCat semifinalist list3rd International Film Script Festival — Honorary Distinction, Feature-Length Script
The Athens International Digital Film Festival lists Gulf Of Aden under Steve Garry as the recipient of an Honorary Distinction for a feature-length script.
Official AIDFF awards page
World Independent Cinema Awards Los Angeles — Special Mention, 2025Austin Film Festival — Official Submission, 2026
Visual World
G.R.A.C.E. and the anomaly
G.R.A.C.E.
Geo-Reflective Autonomous Computational Environment. An emerging bio-machine intelligence that identifies a growing anomaly across events that appear unrelated, detecting pattern where human systems see noise.
B.U.B.B.L.E.S.
A connected branch of G.R.A.C.E. that gives the larger intelligence a tactile, ecological and emotionally accessible presence in the physical world.
Power structures and concealment
The Benevolence sequence
Aboard the Benevolence, political and financial power meet behind closed doors. The sequence reveals that the crisis is not unfolding outside established systems of control: those systems are already watching it, calculating it and trying to contain what they do not yet understand.
Characters
Characters in Gulf of Aden
Human stories inside global systems.
Aden Lonn
Seeker. Protector. Reluctant hero. A former military officer drawn back into a crisis he can no longer outrun.
Poppy Bloom
Beauty. Intelligence. Dangerous loyalty. A vivid, fearless presence in the human chain of the story.
Nikolaos
Pattern-seeker. Restless intelligence. A young observer whose instinct for signal and convergence draws him toward G.R.A.C.E. before others understand what they are seeing.
Cassandra
Gutsy. Athletic. Relentless. A survivor whose momentum and loyalty keep the human story moving under pressure.
Gulf of Aden is not about spectacle replacing humanity. It is about spectacle revealing humanity.
Its cinematic promise is clear: geopolitical tension, emotional accessibility, human warmth, mystery and a visual world built for the screen.
Writer & actor
Steven James Garry / Steve Garry
Steven James Garry is the writer and creator of Gulf of Aden. As an actor he is professionally credited as Steve Garry; his screen credits include Gantz in Tank 432.
The official IMDb cast listing places Steve Garry as Gantz in the credited cast, alongside Rupert Evans and Deirdre Mullins.
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