Driven by love, loyalty, & courage, aided by an unlikely cast of characters, Inanna, an implacable young girl in Sumer, traverses the ancient near east in pursuit of a dragon whose curse has turned her parents to stone, but the terrifying confrontation is not what she expects.

SYNOPSIS:

Based on the novella of the same name, Fearless Inanna is a fantasy/adventure script set in Sumer (ancient Mesopotamia) circa 2800 bc., and concerns the heroic quest of a teen girl around the ancient near east hunting a dragon whose curse has turned her beloved parents to stone. With an emphasis on women’s themes, and a cast rich in female characters (including the titular heroine, old world goddesses, a witch, & a hyena), the screenplay offers an opportunity to continue to expand the presence of strong female characters in U.S. cinema.

The opening scenes of the screenplay are set sixty years later than the rest of the narrative, with an older, wealthy, famous Inanna arriving at the head of her caravan at the City (the historical city of Uruk) to visit the temple of her namesake goddess. While waiting, her thoughts turn to memories of how she became a hero. Decades earlier, a montage of short scenes and images reveals who Inanna’s parents are, where they live (their humble house overlooking the Persian Gulf, & a sumptuous secret garden), and the birth & childhood of their daughter. Intermittently, as Inanna matures, she & her parents make a trip to the City to sell their goods, crossing vast prairies populated with wild lions, antelopes, hyenas, birds, & others. In her late teens, eager to test her independence, Inanna persuades her parents to let her make the trip to the City alone, but when she returns, flush with success, she discovers the forms of her parents in their secret garden, alabaster-white and turned to stone. As the sun rises after a very long night, Inanna is summoned by an enigmatic Heron who reveals to her the intrusion of a tiny dragon into the garden, and the curse of the dragon that afflicts them, concluding with some advice on how to find the dragon & rescue her parents. Resolute, Inanna departs her house for the City, to start her journey, but encounters obstruction & hardship there. Hoping to purchase some weapons & provisions for her trip, she is only able to acquire a sharp stick, a dull knife, and a map, and leaves the City disillusioned. Alone of the wide savanna, Inanna is assailed one night by a giant lion, but rescued by a trio on hyenas, one of whom carries the girl to a caravan, miles away. A chief of the caravan, suspicious of the girl, allows her to stay near, but not too near, & provides her with a camel, but gradually befriends her. In a hollow mountain, Inanna meets three terrifying, winged goddesses who provide her aid & comfort, and agree to meet her in a distant mountain if she can make it there. On a long caravan trip to the next meeting with the goddesses, Inanna begins to distinguish herself for her probity & courage, and a legend starts to grow. In a tent city in desert canyons on the site of the future Petra, Inanna meets an impetuous young prince and persuades him to let her go on her way. The three goddesses keep their appointment with the girl, and send her into a forest to meet a dangerous wizard (who has been covertly following her for much of her journey), from whom she steals a valuable suit of armour, barely escaping his trap of illusions. Arriving finally in the house of the witch Siduri, who once aided Gilgamesh, the Old King, Inanna is prepared finally to fulfill her quest, and leaves on a small boat for the island of the dragon’s home. In a remote valley on a distant island, Inanna finds a dragon now grown immense and unconquerable, who easily resists her assault. When she finally coalesces all the lessons he has learned on her journey, she realizes that she must become the dragon to defeat the dragon, entering the dragon’s mind to overcome its powers. Waking in the void after her victory, she is met by her namesake goddess, who offers her many rich rewards, but Inanna only wants to return to her parents. Waking in their secret garden, with a special gift from the great goddess, she recalls her parents to life.